We had just started rolling down the driveway of Maywood Christian Camp on our way home from Legacy Family Camp East, and our 4-year-old Amos asked, “Is God in my heart?” My wife and I smiled at each other and I said, “I don’t know. What do you think?”
“No! He isn’t” he responded.
While he denied it, Jesus said you shall know them by their fruits, and later in the trip (after feeding the beast and a very brief nap—aren’t they all too brief?), we saw, rather heard, the fruit. From Decatur, AL all the way to Murfreesboro, TN we heard the following on repeat:
Earlier on Sunday, we heard brother Dan Winkler preach an absolutely beautiful sermon on “Worship—More than Just Attendance.” In that lesson, he emphasized that the most important thing to teach our children is to worship God with the heart. If our worship is cold and dry, then we should not be surprised to find that our teenagers think worship is boring and pointless and not worth the time when they are older.
But as I thought about his lesson and “The Lord give us and blessed be the God of my Savior be exalted” (the alternate version to Amos’ alternate version of “The Lord Liveth”) over and over again on the drive home, it dawned on me that children, young children especially, do not have to be taught how to worship. Indeed, they teach us how to worship—with the spirit. Their hearts are open to God. Jesus said, “Yea, have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Mt 21:16). “Perfected” in the middle voice indicates something that was prepared or outfitted for God himself. Simply put, God made children in such a condition that they are ready to praise and honor Him. This is why children light up when singing “Jesus loves me, this I know” or in my case, “The Lord give us…” No wonder then that Jesus said, “Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 18:2).
What we parents are challenged with is the protecting of these little hearts ready-made to praise God. Somehow we have to help our children “keep it childlike still” as they grow and develop. How we do that I am still trying to learn, but it seems to me that the best chance we have at getting our kids to continue wanting to worship when they are grown is for them to see in us a steadfast heart for God. David wrote, “My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise” (Ps 57:7).
Sadly our hearts are too often fixed on other things and not the things of God (Col 3:1-4). We become distracted with the things of this life, or we allow our hearts to be darkened through the influence of the world. One cannot truly worship without the whole heart, and unfortunately our children too often see half-hearted worship. Our purpose in this life is to bring glory to God (Rev 4:11). If our children see us truly fulfilling our purpose by praising the LORD with our whole hearts, what would that do for their faith (Ps 111:1)?
I never answered my son’s question, but the answer is yes! God is in our children’s hearts (Mt 19:14), and we can help keep Him there, if we will have Him in our hearts (Gal 2:20)