What we’re learning in Fellowship KIDS
I love watching children learn. Just look at their faces when they are focused, concentrating on something. Hoping to understand. Wanting to understand. Faces scrunched up tight. Eyes glued to what they are doing. Brows furrowed. You can see the stretching and leaning and yearning. What if we all assumed that posture when we are offered the opportunity to learn about God? Could we possibly be as little children, stretching, leaning into, and yearning for truth, for life, for Christ Himself?
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me.” And they came. Freely and with intense excitement, desiring to sit on his lap. They came. Mary also came to Jesus that way. Sitting at His feet, she learned from the Savior. She desired to spend quality time with Him, even to the point of making her sister mad that she was not contributing to the household chores. Jesus said that if we come to Him as little children, in this same way, with this same desire to spend time with Him, we, too, would meet Him. We too, could learn of Him and His kingdom.
What would we learn?
We would learn that God is weaving a giant story of His goodness and love. Throughout the Old Testament God’s character never changes. His people wander and deny him, pursuing their own interests and desires (just like we do). But because He is consistently good, God promises to draw them back to Himself. In Isaiah, He promises to redeem His people, to call his children from the four corners of the earth and even to give them a new name. “Do not be afraid, for I am with you…bring my sons and daughters from the ends of the earth – everyone called by my name, whom I created for my glory. – Isaiah 43:6-7. He does this because He loves His people. Moreover, God promises a Redeemer in David’s line, this time a King whose kingdom is eternal. Jesus is all over the Old Testament in the form of promise. Because God is good, He promises salvation to His people.
In the New Testament, we learn that God keeps His promises. Jesus is born, lives, teaches, exemplifies, dies, forgives, and is resurrected. For us. All for us. The promise is fulfilled! What more could we want? Paul writes in many of his letters to the churches he visited that he prays for the people that “the eyes of their hearts may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you.…” (Ephesians 1:18) Paul prays that believers in Jesus would stand firm and accept Jesus’ forgiveness, love and new life. Jesus permeates the New Testament narrative.
So we learn that God’s story is ONE BIG STORY.
Why does that matter?It matters because WE are a part of that story! When God speaks to people in the Old Testament, we hear it as if He spoke to us. When He encourages and directs in the New Testament, His words speak to us also! We learn through this word that we matter to God. This good God makes specific promises to us. We join with humanity that preceded us, who live now, and who will come later. Together we are the receivers of God’s good grace. We are a part of God’s ONE BIG STORY.
Every week in FellowshipKids we are learning that we are the recipients of God’s promises and that He is trustworthy. We encourage kids to take time to sit at His feet and learn from him and to see themselves as part of HIS story. Without God’s word, we could never know fully how much God loves us. It’s crucial that kids know they matter and belong. Kids need affirmation that they are loved. God communicates this to them and to us as adults through the narrative of the Old and New Testaments.
So let’s be as little children. Let’s yearn and lean in. Let’s allow ourselves to be stretched, viewing ourselves as part of God’s ONE BIG STORY and then embrace the way God weaves in our part!
Lisa Meyers