Easter Sunday I was moved to tears during our worship service. In front of me was a child, not much over 2 years old. He was in his mother's arms staring at me and my family the entirety of worship. His eyes were so fixed on us it was unnerving. Not wiggling, fussy, or agitated; only processing our every move. I could only imagine what was going on in that little brain of his, much less his little heart. Was he understanding our singing or not? Was he wondering why we lifted our hands and sometimes closed our eyes?
Suddenly, our ministry vision verses struck my heart with clarity like never before. "We will not hide these truths from our children, we will tell them of the glorious deeds of the Lord...so they will set their hope on God" (Ps 78:4,7).
Would this precious little one accept and follow Christ when the time comes? Or would he follow the ways of the world and reject God's love? I asked the Lord right then to help him believe. Not more than 10 seconds later I opened my eyes to see this child, with eyes closed and hands in the air, worshipping our risen Lord.
I was humbled at the simplicity of the Gospel and our Father's heart in drawing the next generation to Him. Many times He draws them to Himself through our example, albeit imperfect!
May we be reminded this week to be fully aware of the fact that we children of God are reflections of Him to future children of God!
-Ron Tant, Next Generation IMPACT President and Co-founder