What Can Children Do?

Children are a very special part of God’s plan. From the very beginning, God sent forth men and women telling them to multiply—to have children.

Psalm 127:3 tells us that “children are a gift from the Lord,” and it compares them to arrows in a quiver, telling us that it is a blessing to have a quiver full of arrows.

As our children grow, we’re always trying to find things for them to do. We want to keep them entertained; we hate it when they tell us they are bored. But we also want them involved in some meaningful activity, so from an early age we give them chores to do, like picking up their toys, making their beds, setting the table, taking out the trash. As they mature, we are always asking ourselves the question, “What can children do?”

I want to give you three answers to that question from the Bible.

What can children do?

1. Children Can Obey their Parents

Ephesians 6:1 tells them to do just that, and if the Bible tells children to do something, then you know that they are able to do it. “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right,” the Bible says.

Parents, we know how important it is for children to obey. It keeps them safe. It helps them to learn how to submit to authority. And it strengthens the family.

Kids, you may not realize this, but you have a very important job in your family. That job is to obey your parents. And how well you do that job will make a difference in how healthy your family is, how strong your family is, and how happy your family is.

I have known families that have been torn apart because children did not obey their parents. And I have known families that have prospered and flourished because the children DID obey their parents.

That’s one thing that children can do. Children can obey their parents.

What else can children do?

2. Children can learn God’s Word

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 tells parents that they are to impress God’s Word onto their children, by talking about God’s Word at home, away from home, when they go to bed and when they get up. In other words, all the time.

If we are supposed to teach God’s Word to our children, then it stands to reason that children can learn God’s Word.

How old do you have to be to learn God’s Word? In 2 Timothy 3:15, the Apostle Paul reminded his young friend Timothy that “from infancy” he had “known the holy Scriptures.” How had Timothy learned them from such an early age? Earlier in the letter Paul had acknowledged that Timothy had been taught by his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois.

The religious education of children needs to happen primarily within the family, but the church also stands ready to help. That’s why we have Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, Home Groups, and Wednesday evening activities for the kids. The church wants to help the children learn God’s Word.

Remember the Ephesians 6 passage, “Children, obey your parents”? That was from a letter that Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, intended to be read aloud to the church. Knowing that children would be present in the congregation, Paul included that specific instruction for children. Now, you can tell your kids to obey over and over again, but don’t you think it might help if they came to church and the pastor stood up to read a letter from a famous missionary and he bellowed out the words, “Children, obey your parents”?

Religious education begins at home, but it doesn’t hurt having the church back you up. We can work together to help the children learn God’s Word.

Because learning God’s Word is something that children can do.
What else can children do?

3. Children can come to Jesus.

In Matthew 19:13-14, some people were trying to bring their children to Jesus to have Him bless them but the disciples thought that would be a waste of Jesus’s time. Jesus rebuked His disciples and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Children can come to Jesus. Jesus said so. In fact, He said the kingdom belongs to people like children. Just one chapter before this, in Matthew 18:3, Jesus had already said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” And a few verses later He had mentioned “little ones who believe in me.”

And remember Paul’s young friend Timothy who had known the holy Scriptures from infancy? Listen to what Paul said about those holy Scriptures that Timothy had known since infancy: they “are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” Put that all together and we see that, from infancy, our children are able to learn the holy Scriptures, and as they learn them, they are being prepared to be saved by faith in Jesus.

We never want to push our children into making a premature decision for Christ, but the fact is that the Bible says it takes the kind of faith that a little child has to be saved and enter the Kingdom. So although we don’t want to push them into a premature decision, neither do we want to hinder them from coming to Jesus as soon as they realize they are sinners who need to be saved and that Jesus is the Savior they need, the one who died on the cross to pay for their sin and rose from the dead to give them eternal life.

So, three things the Bible tells us children can do:

Children can obey their parents, and it is up to the parents, the Bible says, to bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

Children can learn God’s Word, and it is up to the parents to impress it upon them continually and continuously.

Children can come to Jesus, and it is up to the parents to point their children to Jesus, to help them understand the gospel, and not hold them back from trusting Jesus even at an early age.

David Williams is the director of missions for Trinity River Baptist Association in Southeast Texas.