Isaac's Prayers

My boy is growing up. I see it all the time, now...he's thinking and talking and interacting on a different level. It's fun. It's intimidating. Because now that I feel somewhat comfortable dealing with the needs of infants, I have a toddler and a preschooler on my hands. They're always one step ahead of my competency :).

One of the best parts about Isaac's age right now is having more significant spiritual conversations with him. We've started encouraging him to have his own devotional time if he wakes up while we are having ours. He sits on the couch and looks at his children's Bible while we read and pray. Obviously he's not getting a ton out of it, but I do think he's starting to understand that God needs to be the first priority in his day.

About a month ago, Vance was reading the crucifixion narrative to Isaac at bedtime--they talked about why Jesus had to die, and what he accomplished for us. As he was putting Isaac to bed, Vance asked if he was ready to pray. Isaac said that he wanted to pray by himself. So Vance left, put his ear to the door, and heard Isaac pray, "Jesus, please save me from hell. Thank you for dying on the cross for me so I wouldn't be punished."

Wow. That's all I could think when Vance told me.

Is their a "moment" when a child becomes a believer? Is it important to know it? How can you tell when a child understands enough to repent of his sin and put all his hope in Christ? These are big topics, and lots of books have been written about them. For our family, I don't want to put too much emphasis on one defining moment (he wasn't an angel the next day or anything!). At the same time, I would hate to "despise the day of small things" and blow his prayer off. Instead, I have found myself praying, "God, hear his prayer. Give him eternal life with you. Give him eyes to see you." And I've been rejoicing that, young as he is, he gets it. Not everything, of course--wait, neither do I! But he knows that he does wrong. He knows his sin has to be addressed. He knows he needs a new heart. And he knows Jesus came to rescue him so he could go to heaven one day.

Time will tell the fruit, but for now I'm grateful for moments like that one. And I'm excited about getting to talk about significant, life-changing things with my (not so!) little people.