I recently heard the testimony of a young father whose son was supposed to be in bed sleeping. However the father heard movement in the child’s room and went to investigate. The little boy was sitting up in bed with a book in his lap. Seeing his daddy at the door the child knew he needed to explain and exclaimed, “I’m having my ‘botions’ (devotions) Daddy!” The father’s frustration at the child quickly dissipated!
Children are imitators of what they see. This can be a blessing; it can also be a rebuke as we hear them repeat things we’ve said, or behave the way they’ve seen us behave. An unknown source had this to say about the leading of a child – a lamb:
A grown-up sheep that had gone astray from the ninety and nine in the fold.
Out on the hillside, out in the cold, ’twas a sheep the Good Shepherd sought;
And back to the flock, safe into the fold, ’twas a sheep the Good Shepherd brought.
And why for the sheep should we earnestly long and as earnestly hope and pray?
Because there is danger, if they go wrong, they will lead the lambs astray.
For the lambs will follow the sheep, you know, wherever the sheep may stray;
When the sheep go wrong, it will not be long till the lambs are as wrong as they.
And so with the sheep we earnestly plead, for the sake of the lambs today;
If the sheep are lost, what terrible cost some of the lambs will have to pay!
What a reminder that we must guard our own hearts, because without doing so we will lead our little lambs astray as well. Do we love God, His Word, His house, His people? Then our lambs will learn to love these too. Your little ones are watching and will do whatever you do. Walk the path you want them to walk – their eyes are on your every step.
RefreshHer 