Recently I was making beef ravioli (in Montana we eat meat) for my almost two-year old daughters for supper. I carefully split the amount evenly between two plates and put them in the freezer for a minute to make sure they wouldn't be too hot for them. The first plate was retrieved safely and passed on to my wife and I then turned back to the freezer to get the second plate. I reached in an grabbed it, began to turn, and it slipped from my hand, bouncing off my chest, the wall and then onto the floor. "Ah Nellie!" I stared at the ground, tomato sauce splattered onto me from head to toe (as well as the wall and refrigerator), looking at the beef ravioli on the floor. I was really disappointed, not so much by the mess that I had just created, but because I had gotten the beef ravioli special for my girls and had dropped it all over the floor.
As a husband and a father I must see to the needs of my family. Physical needs are very important to young children. Without proper shelter, warmth, water and food a child can become malnourished and die. That's not going to happen in my house. But children have more than just physical needs. They have spiritual needs as well. They need Christ.
Whose responsibility is it to see to the spiritual needs of your children? Does it lie with you? Does it lie with the church? That does seem to be the attitude (and practice) of many. This is the start of a short series I'm calling "Teaching Kids: Isn't that the church's job?"
As I stood there in my wife's kitchen covered with tomato sauce, beef ravioli on the floor, I also stood there a forgiven sinner covered by the shed blood of Christ. I've been saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Salvation is only in Christ. We don't deserve this, can't buy this or do enough good things to earn this. We know this, but do your children? Whose responsibility is it to teach them this?
Jesu Juva
Soli Deo Gloria
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