Pastor's Pen
Don’t Be Outdone
By a Three-Year-Old
We sing a song, Tell Me the Story of Jesus, and in it we sing, “Write on my heart every word.”
When my oldest son was three, I started introducing him to Bible verses he could memorize. I desired to find verses about God’s nature, love, and mighty works which he could commit to memory. Seeing that he was just three, it really narrowed what he could actually memorize. So, for the most part, I stuck with shorter verses.
We started Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Then we moved to Luke 10:27, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
After that, I thought John 14:6 would be a good one. There Jesus declared that access to the Father was exclusively through Him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Some other verses that were relatively easy for him were, Matthew 6:33a, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” and Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
The fact that a three year old could learn verses teaches us a couple things.
First, it teaches us that kids can learn about God, even at an early age. Really, it is never too early to start teaching children about God and His Word.
Second, I believe that if a three year old can commit short verses to memory then most everyone can. It does take some time and effort. However, in the voice of a three year old, ‘if I can do, you can do it!’
While it is true, it’s never too early to teach a child about God and His Word, it’s also true that it is never too late to write God’s Word on your heart.
Pastor Craig Ressler
Hartville Church of Christ