The first five years of a child’s life are the most formative. This is therefore the best time for parents to present Jesus and the Gospel to them in a living way. This can be done very simply, by talking about the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Surprisingly, when they are very young, we can touch their hearts and awaken in them a love for God and for Jesus.

However, we will never bring our children to Jesus if He remains just a character in the Bible. Children are attracted to Jesus, but they will instinctively rebel against a hypocritical faith. As Blumhardt said:

“If you try to drag your child to the Kingdom of Heaven through external piety, he will flee your pious home faster than the children of other households.”

We must therefore be careful not to impose religious pressure on our children, not to burden them with sermons about sins they cannot understand or commit. Let them have their own childlike responses to God, Jesus, and the Bible. For example, there is no point in making children memorize Bible passages, even very short ones, if God is not speaking directly to their young hearts.

Rather than trying to “teach” faith to children, it would be better to live out our faith by example, spontaneously, and with authenticity. When children see their parents trusting in God in all things, when they see them thanking Him and obeying His commandments, they will feel the need to pray and follow Him on their own.

Our mission is to guide our children, not to control them…

This text is an excerpt from the book “Sex, God, and Marriage“ written by Johann Christoph Arnold.

We invite you to read the following article “Purity is Taught by Examples, Just Like Impurity.”

Living Examples.