"Giving My Life to Jesus" -- What Does This Look Like For My Kids???

As in many Christian families, our children have been inundated with the Word of God, prayer, worship music, etc, since the day they were born. Kevin & I have always prayed over them, with them, and for them. We've stayed fairly consistent with having family devotions and prayer time since the oldest kids were toddlers. The children have seen & experienced first-hand the miraculous, providing, healing Hand of God in our lives. They all know & sing a handful of hymns & worship tunes...

No, I'm not bragging. 'Cause even with all that - they had never come to that moment of 'praying to receive Christ' or making a 'public' (even just in our family) declaration of their faith, or made a discernible decision to 'give my life to Jesus.'

I've known other families who brought their kids up similarly...and yet the parents told stories of their 3-yr-old or 5-yr-old or 8-yr-old suddenly coming to them with the desire to 'pray to receive Christ.' To be honest, I would smile and nod, but fight back feelings of jealousy and inferiority - and even guilt. I've often pondered how this came about for their kids. Since the children were raised to know, trust, & pursue Christ from the get-go...what shift would take place for them to give their lives to Christ?

I wasn't raised with the kind of spiritual aroma that fills my home today. Sure, my family-of-origin went to church, and I called myself a 'christian' - but I understood little about personal relationship with Christ, about His grace, and many other Biblical truths. Our family prayed at special occasions, but not as a part of our daily lives; nor did we have any sort of family devotions or faith discussions. It was mostly about rote and religion: do's and do-not's were the basis for my perceived faith.

And so I didn't come to embrace God as my Abba Father until my adult life, and didn't make the leap to Christ until several years after that. Even then, I did not pursue baptism till the age of 32! But for me, those moments of 'asking Christ into my heart' and of 'giving my life to Jesus' were big, transformational, almost-burning-bush moments. I had to clearly make a leap from something I had not known, understood, or lived...into something entirely different.

For years this issue of salvation for my children has plagued me. I just haven't understood how they would make such a leap of faith - when they had never known any different but such faith. How could they 'come to Christ' when they had been coming to Christ since before they could speak His name? The Scriptures say, "unless you are born again..." - but I just couldn't wrap my head around what that would look like, when they weren't living in some faithless, hedonistic environment, to be 'born again' out of. How could my child's salvation prayer really make sense, in regard to my own experience, the only one I had any perspective on? Yes, I get the idea that even a child raised in a godly home can drift away, and explore the world, and find need to be 'born again' and to give their lives to Jesus. But what does that look like when they are still a child? What meaning and purpose and value does it have?

I was intrigued & convicted this summer, listening to Sibby Yarger speak at Wed morning Women's Bible study. Her unique perspective on home schooling her large family hit close to home for me...but what really impacted my spirit was her urging to make sure that our children made a verbal, decisive commitment to Christ at an early age. Her story of Andrew's prayer was precious...and even more beautiful was the way it gave her such secure confidence in his eternal life, as he now awaits her on the streets of gold.

From that point on, I began talking with Kevin and the big kids (Caleb, Autumn, & Eliza) about the issue of their salvation, and making that verbal, decisive commitment. It seemed that the Holy Spirit was confirming the concept at every turn...stories in our family devotions, youth group sessions, church sermons, and more. I began to urge the kids to make that decision; to come to Mommy & Daddy with the request to pray for their salvation and commitment to Christ. "It doesn't have to be some huge deal," I'd say. "It's not like you have to stand in front of the church and pronounce it to everyone! It's just speaking your faith; verbalizing a commitment to Christ!" But month after month...despite my near-nagging...nothing...

How I have prayed for them to approach us with their decision to give their lives to Christ! And yet, how I've also grappled with the idea that perhaps I was being legalistic, and after all, Jesus knew their faithful hearts, without some rote prayer to publicly announce it! Did they have to have some salvation moment to truly be saved? Or was my wavering bringing the risk of eternal damnation down on their heads? Seeking the scriptures provided no relief, as I could find nothing about salvation prayers or baptism for children...only that we should all have faith as a little child...the faith that I have seen endure in Caleb, and burst forth with conviction from Autumn, and shine with tenderness from Eliza...

As B.Kaye Stearman would say, "To make a long story short..." (while in the midst of an ever-lengthening story!) --
Last night our big kids prayed to receive Christ; to give their lives to Jesus.

As often happens, we were sitting at the dinner table, long after our plates were empty; little boys down from their seats & racing bikes around the 'circuit'; talking and laughing. The conversation turned to Kevin's desire to do family devotions every evening after dinnertime, and what should we focus on, and the kids studying the book of Acts in school...and my hinting again about salvation prayers. Eliza suddenly piped up, "Well, why not right now, Mommy?"

The dinner table became silent. "Oh!" I finally said. "Yes; why not right now?" But I couldn't hide the trembling in my voice, and when I looked at tender little Eliza, her eyes were bright and wide with tears. Why such an emotional moment? I don't know - but the light-hearted conversation became quickly serious, somewhat awkward, and even a little scary. We all knew it was a big deal. Suddenly being faced with the moment I had been longing for was all at once daunting. What to say? What to pray?

Kevin & I pushed away from the table; "well, lets just go sit in the living room and pray right now, Eliza." And Caleb quickly chimed in, "Can I join her?" Of course, yes, yes!! Autumn agreed that there was no reason to wait, and so she too joined us on our knees, in the middle of our avocado-green living room rug. Kevin called to Ian & Canyon: "Boys! We're going to pray! Come pray with us and be still & quiet...or go play upstairs!" Their response goes without saying. Though it was nothing short of miraculous that they actually did stay upstairs playing the entire time we prayed!!

We began by holding hands. Kevin prayed...and I did...and then we all scooted in around Eliza, placing hands on her arms, knees, head. The words were awkward. We stumbled around what to say. There were many tears. But with some help, Eliza asked Christ into her heart, gave her life to Jesus, and with small hands open & lifted, proclaimed her commitment to God. We moved next to Caleb, and finally to Autumn. It was all over in less than 15 minutes. Just a small thing; just a huge thing.

During bedtime prayers last night we were overwhelmed with gratitude; and with the realization that we needed to confirm to the children what had just happened, and draw our spiritual swords against the enemy. Again this morning, I hugged & rejoiced with each of them: "Congratulations!! Don't let the enemy steal away the magnitude of what God did last night! You are a new creature in Christ!" I realize that this will be an ongoing theme for awhile. I remember the spiritual battle I faced after making the leap to Christ - "oh, I was just being emotional; nothing really happened; I'm not really new." But thankfully there were prayer warriors fighting for me, and offering me practical encouragement & confirmation of my new life in Christ. As Kevin & I will be doing for Caleb, Autumn, and Eliza.

And so today I've pondered these things in my heart. It feels like the Holy Spirit has brought me some understanding...that perhaps the tender, saving mercy of Jesus was there, readily accessible to them all along, and the children knew it, trusted it, believed it, and had even experienced it. But perhaps it did not become their own until they made that awkward, emotional leap: praying for His infilling, telling Him in their own stumbling words, "I give my life to you, Jesus." Perhaps the gift was right in their laps, wrapped, waiting, tied with a ribbon...and they simply had to ask, "may I open it now?" It seems so different from my salvation experience. But perhaps not. Perhaps it is all about recognizing the Gift, and then simply asking to receive it.

"Jesus said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them” Mark 10:13-16