As summertime arrives and the patterns of many shift for a season away from the ingrained consistency of the school year to a less rigid structure and flow of life for the coming months, I'd like to acknowledge something that we adults have already learned and that a fresh crop of graduates will surely soon discover...life as an adult is different than life as a child.
For many young men and women, the lazy summers of the past will for the first time give way to responsibility. The freedom to play and float and roam fades, and the necessity of work and structure and dependability comes to the fore. I pray that they are ready. I further pray that we adults will look ahead and strive diligently to prepare our younger children for this inevitable day, which will be here before we know it.
I'm not exactly sure which statistics to believe so I'll set those aside, but from both general observation and personal experience I can attest to this fact...most, yes, I do mean most church going children in the United States will leave the church between their latter years of high school and their first year or two of adulthood. Tragically, all too rare are the families who see their little ones remain in regular worship.
Now, this is not to say that the Spirit of God cannot or will not do a work in the hearts and minds of our young ones who have strayed. He does. I can attest to that fact as well, praise God! But why do they leave? Does it have to be this way? Is this something that we must accept and simply write off as "just a phase" in their lives? God forbid!
Instead, from an early point in the lives of our children (preferably, conception or even sooner) we must be cognizant of the spiritual dangers that lurk and intend our child's destruction, pray for our little ones, and diligently and faithfully prepare them to recognize those dangers for themselves and defend against the "flaming darts of the evil one" (Ephesians 6:16). A proper respect for the deceptive ability of the evil one, plus an acknowledgment of their own personal sin nature, plus a reverent fear of God and a love for Him is THE recipe for humility that can override the inexperience and foolishness of youth!!
As the church, this is one of the primary areas where our labors must be focused. No one is more vulnerable or more moldable than our little ones. These realities underscore the weight of blessings that our labors carry and also the immeasurable damage that can be caused by our spiritual neglect toward our children in their formative years.
And regardless of the failures of our past, we must not dwell on them but instead remember that "He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins" (I John 1:9). Church, let's resolve today to live "Great Commandment" lives from this day forward - “4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)
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