I recently got back from a quick visit with my father. My mom was gone at a long conference, and the children and I came to keep him diverted for a few days while she was gone. You may know that he has a lung disease that, short of a successful transplant is terminal. I [...]
Filed under: Salvation
Questions: Is telling a person he is saved unbiblical? Is there more to assurance than saying “Yes, you’re saved because…” When a child states that he is saved already, at what point should a parent “let” him be saved? Should a parent ever bring up salvation with a child? At what point developmentally? A quick [...]
Filed under: Salvation
I’m going to begin a series on helping children come to an assurance of salvation. This topic has been percolating for awhile, and Lee and I have been discussing it at length together. We’ll see how it all comes together. When I was a teenager, I started having doubts of my salvation. The trouble was, [...]
Filed under: Salvation
We’re thinking about the paradox of requiring unregenerate children to demonstrate fruit of the spirit. Let’s consider the fruit of the spirit: Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faith, meekness, self-control I regularly require my unregenerate children to be patient: we have younger children who come visit, and I require my own children to be [...]
Filed under: Salvation
I happened upon an article at DesiringGod.org called “Why require unregenerate children to be good?” This is a good topic for discussion, and I thought the answer was substantive. I regularly feel the tension of responding to my children who do not make a profession of faith. I tell them to display the fruit of [...]
Filed under: Salvation
This week Bethel was tussling with David over his helium balloon and popped it. Time stopped. David wailed. I was fascinated to watch Bethel’s response. At first, she didn’t do anything. I’ve found that sometimes kids don’t know what to say when something bad happens, so I started giving her words to say. Tell David [...]
Tags: restitution
Filed under: Salvation
My dad and I got into a recent discussion about the covenant theologian’s approach to children’s salvation. I’m not ready to blog about how I differ from this approach, but I did find an excellent, if not seemingly atypical article from a covenant theologian perspective. It has a number of excellent thoughts on teaching children [...]
Filed under: Salvation
My five year old is not saved. He is particularly reserved when talking about spiritual things, and rarely (if ever) brings up the topic. I have a great desire to allow the Holy Spirit to draw David to Himself. I know how eager children are to please, and I have no desire for a false [...]
Filed under: Salvation
In Children’s church yesterday, Lee asked whether a person who is not saved is an enemy of God. This really bothered one of the children (who to my knowledge, has not made a profession of faith). The thought occurred to me that a child who knows he is not saved, understands salvation, might not really [...]
Filed under: Salvation
In church on Sunday nights, we’ve been talking about the believer’s relationship with the law. The men have been having a grand time sitting afterwards discussing the finer points of Romans 6, 7, and 8. Me? I’m still thinking about the role of the law in bringing someone to Christ, since I have three unbelievers [...]
Filed under: Salvation
