Does Your Child Desire to Know Christ?

When we love someone, we learn about them. There's a desire to get to know that person. We want to know their likes and dislikes. We like to learn what makes them tick. That's what a real relationship is. It involves two people connecting. It isn't one sided; it is mutual.

When God saves us, we begin a relationship with him. The Gospel is literally the good news of what Jesus did to save us so we could be brought back into the relationship with God that we were supposed to have from the beginning, but sin separated us from. When we realize how astounding salvation is, we can't help but want to know this God more who has saved us. 

This is why it is fair for us to begin to ask tough questions when we see someone who has claimed to have been saved by God, but seems to have no desire to know him. It seems to be one sided, which isn't much of a relationship. I wrote an overview article asking, "Does my child know Christ?" I wanted to expand on each of those points. In this article, I hope we can look a little further into asking the question, "Does my child desire to know Christ?"

Changed Lives

Jesus is a polarizing figure. He attracted a lot of people, but he also repelled a lot of people. No one really seemed to be neutral when it came to him. Some begged him to leave and others wanted to follow him wherever he went. What we often see is that when people had encounters with Jesus, they left different than they had come. 

The woman at the well encountered Jesus and went and told the whole town about him despite her reputation. Nicodemus encountered Jesus and we later see him helping bury him. Lazarus was dead and Jesus brought him back to life. 

Motives Matter

However, not everyone had pure motivations for wanting to encounter Jesus. In John 6, Jesus is teaching a crowd of about 5,000 men (plus women and children) and he feeds them with five loaves and two fish. This would have definitely been amazing to witness! There were even 12 baskets full of leftovers. The crowd was amazed. “When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, ‘This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!’ (John 6:14 ESV).

So Jesus takes off because he knows they're about to take him and force him to be king. The next day the crowd finds him and this is when Jesus exposes their motives. “Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.’” (John 6:26). Jesus reveals that the crowd isn't following him because of what he offers spiritually, but because he fed them. We see the fruit of their motives when at the end of his teaching in this chapter, the crowd leaves. They didn't really desire to know Jesus.

Kids and Motives

Many kids do this same thing. They don't really want to know Jesus, but they are professing faith and being baptized for some other reason. It may be because their friends are doing. It may be because they feel like it will make their parents happy. There may be some other motivation. However, it is not because God has changed their heart and they desire to know him. 

When there is no desire to know Christ, we must ask, "Has my child actually met Christ?" This is a hard question to ask that may result in an answer we don't truly want to hear. However, how can we love and disciple our kids if we are avoiding the truth? How can we strive to point them to what truly matters in this life if we don't accept that they need us to?

Conclusion

When we love someone, we learn about them. We love our children. Let's love them enough to learn about how they are processing spiritual things. Let's love them enough to do the hard work of having a real relationship where we talk about God and how he is what truly matters in this world. Finally, even after they are saved, let's love them enough to keep helping them know Jesus and grow into maturity with him so one day they can do the same for their kids.