By Ada Brownell
When I became a parent of a darling little boy, two big goals crossed my mind—I wanted my child to be healthy physically, and even when he was tiny, I wanted him to know God loves him, and to love the Lord back so he can make heaven his home.
Later, I would be the mother of five sweet adorable children and wanted the same goals for all of them. Praise the Lord all five our children, their spouses, and I pray their children all have repented of their sins and made Jesus Lord of their lives.
What a comfort it has been when cancer stole away our oldest daughter, Carolyn, she was serving the Lord and she went to heaven talking to her Savior and singing praises to him in her heart.
I was fortunate enough to grow up in a full gospel church that had Bible preaching pastors who knew how to rightly divide “the Word of truth,” and other teachers did the same.
It was in the Beginners’ class where any child under school age could come, that I began to learn about God. “Sister McPherson” was my teacher, and right off, I knew a secret. We sang “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so,” and that was good news to me. The teacher also talked about God’s love and she was so excited about it.
You see, I barged into my family, becoming the fifth girl and eighth child and my siblings weren’t excited about another baby. They’d been beat up by the Kansas Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, and my oldest sister, Marjorie, was so mad about bringing another kid into the house she wouldn’t even look at me for a week.
Later, the family told me about it and thought it was funny. I didn’t. I always felt I didn’t deserve to be there. So someone loving me warmed me all over, and I loved Jesus right off.
Then something happened to our family. They had just moved to Colorado, and Marjorie’s new friend invited her to the little white church on a corner in the middle of Fruita. Marjorie accepted Jesus as her Savior, and changed into the most joyful, loving person in the family. My mom and the older children knew about Jesus, but they went further than that and invited the Lord into their lives. Our house was full of love and joyful singing about the Lord and his love.
I understood before long that when you live for Jesus you’ll live forever. I also discovered by listening to preaching that when I asked Jesus, he saved me from my sins, hell and Satan’s devices. I knew at an early age, "For God so loved the world that he that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16).
So I wanted my children to know God the way I did. As the other children were born, they also filled our house with joy and music. Yet I knew going to heaven doesn’t happen just because you go to church and have a Christian family. God expected each of us to decide ourselves to give our lives to Christ. He doesn’t force us. I can’t force it on my children. They must make their own decision. Anyone who listened to Billy Graham knows you “make a decision to follow Jesus” and then when you repent and accept him as Savior, you’re born again—a new creation in Christ Jesus!
Do your children understand salvation—how you are saved from sin, hell, and given eternal life? Ask them! God has no grandchildren. He’s merciful and loving, but will He reward your sons and daughters for rebellion, and refusing to obey His word? Ignoring His knock on their heart’s door, or slamming the door in His face?
Yes there is grace. Grace is what Jesus thought about when He willingly went to the cross, suffered unbearable pain, embarrassment, and agony of rejection by the people he came to save from hell and death. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
But the same Lord who provided a way of escape from death and judgment, also said, “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life: And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works .And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:12,15).
Yet it is not our works on earth that save us. It is work of loving God, accepting Jesus as our Savior, turning from sin, and to living for Jesus.
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.
No matter how much they’ve gone to church, we need to tell our children and grandchildren Jesus is the only way to Heaven, and when we accept Him as Lord, our name is written down in Glory--in the Book of Life.
NEXT ON THIS BLOG, I'LL HAVE A LIST OF THINGS TO DO AND TELL YOUR CHILDREN SO HOPEFULLY THEY'LL CHOOSE TO FOLLOW JESUS AND GO TO LIVE IN THE PLACE JESUS PREPARES FOR THOSE WHO CHOOSE TO ACCEPT HIS SACRIFICE. WHEN HE LEFT EARTH HE SAID, "I GO TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU...I WILL COME AGAIN AND RECEIVE YOU TO MYSELF, THAT WHERE I AM, THERE YOU MAY BE ALSO" --(John 14:2,3).
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