Help the Children

“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”  —Luke 18:16

My son and I played and practiced a lot of baseball together, and we designed and built a lot of projects together. I still love spending time with him today, but I missed out on one important thing I wished we would have done more often. As he was growing up in his early teen years, I remember feeling that he wasn’t embracing my values as readily as I hoped he would. Although, he never really rebelled terribly, I risked it all and asked him the ultimate question.

I said to my son, “Ryan, you know I love you, right? Have you ever seen anything false in my life where my actions didn’t live up to my words?” These were set up questions, because if he said, “No,” then I would ask him why he did not follow my example more closely or behave better. Well, if you are going to risk your honor and ask such questions of a teenager, be prepared for the answer. Ryan thought awhile—I was thinking I got him—but then said, “You always preach about personal and family devotions, but we don’t read the Bible together very often.” Ouch!

To my wife’s and my defense, we did read the Egermeier's Bible Story Book the whole way through after meals for a long period of time, We also tried different family, children, and teen devotional books but the whining of our children, the challenge of our schedules, and sheer exhaustion of life often made it easier to skip Bible reading with our children. After all, they were in church multiple times each week. No excuses!

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them.” If I rewrote this in the positive, it might read, “Let the little children come to me and help them get closer.” One of the best ways to help our children get closer to Jesus is spending time with them reading the Bible. I have noticed many successful parents and some of the most Christ-like children are those who spend time reading God’s Word together. When the children are young, read short Bible stories to them and as they grow older, involve them in taking turns reading as a family. One family read the entire Bible together in the one year plan by reading three chapters every night after supper and 5 chapters on Sundays after dinner. It was a transformational year for them all.

Looking to my bookshelf, I located that same Egermeier’s Bible Story Book. The paperback cover is slightly tattered, but looking on the presentation page, I see it was presented to my daughter in 1982 (she would have been 4), by her Uncle Allen and Aunt Christi. Thank you, Allen and Christi. That gift was one of the highpoints in the devotional life of my small children at the time.

In an article a few months ago, I offered to give anyone a Bible who didn’t have one, but no one contacted the church to take me up on the offer. Either no one took me seriously or everyone who read the article could afford or already had a Bible if they wanted one. I am making the same offer for the Egermeier’s Bible Story Book. It follows the Biblical text closely and is a great way to introduce Bible reading to young children. If you cannot afford one and would like one, please contact me through the church website below. I’ll see that you get one. Won’t you help the children, your children, get closer to Jesus?