It can be hard to bring kids up in this world. They are constantly barraged by images, ideas and teachings that are counter to what we want for them as parents. I talk with my children a lot about who we are and how we are to live. I impress upon them the idea that we are different; set apart. We belong to God’s Kingdom.
While I want them to recognize to whom they belong, I also don’t want them to feel isolated and alone.
It can be hard to express this idea to children. So, one day I told them a story.
God is in heaven looking down at us. He sees the pain and hardship in the world. He sees the sin. But he also sees us. He sees the people who love Him.
Elijah thought he was all alone. He complained to God that he was the only faithful servant left. The whole of Israel had turned to the god Baal. God told him there were seven thousand in Israel that He reserved. Seven thousand who had not bent the knee to Baal.
God can see his people. He recognises them even when we don’t.
God looks down and sees a light. A soul that he recognizes as His. Now God wants for all souls to belong to Him, but He gives us the choice.
We choose Him. As a result, He looks down and sees our house. In that house there are five lights. Lights for His kingdom.
But that’s not all He sees. He can see the other people who also choose Him. People we know and love. People we’ve never met. He looks down at our city and He sees lights shining like dots across the city. I imagine it looks to Him like the stars look to us when we gaze up at night.
Perhaps this was a bit fanciful for a serious message, but I wanted my children to have a visual they could hold onto. I wanted them to think of God when they saw the stars.
Ephesians 5: 8-10 – For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.
Roberta Writes 