TRAINING OF CHILDREN IN DISCIPLING:
I once visited a Sapera (snake
charmers) colony. There was this baby crawling outside the tent playing with a
defanged cobra. The baby thought it was a toy. I asked them when do you teach
them to catch a live poisonous one. Just then a man arrived with a freshly
caught live cobra in a bamboo basket from the nearby forest. He just opened the lid and the snake started
slithering away. He asked a young boy (must be around 6-7 years of age) to go
and get it. The boy ran and picked it by the tail and brought it back and put
it back in the basket.
I was simply amazed. But one thing did learn, do not think
that your kids are too young to learn discipling, not just the theory of it but
also the skills. So, I do not throw out kids from our household gatherings
unless they are causing too much distraction. In fact, when we "Break
Bread" (The Lord's Supper), like Yeshua in the Jewish tradition (Deut
6:2,3) made young John to sit next to him (John 13:21-26). When Yeshua said
that one of you is going to betray me, Peter did not ask him directly as to who
it was but asked young John to ask Yeshua. I also make sure that my grandson or
a new believer, is sitting next to me. He is then encouraged to ask a few
questions like: What is the meaning of breaking bread?; What is the meaning of
drinking wine?; Why must you do it as often as you meet?; What do you mean by
taking unworthily? etc.
I then throw these questions open for others to answer.
Sometimes the discussion brings out some very interesting interpretations and
insights. Needless to say, that the newcomers find it extremely helpful and
sometimes even the mature ones say that they have been looking for answers to
some of these questions but felt embarrassed about asking them.
The lesson is that we should plant the DNA of discipling
from early childhood, so that discipling becomes organic rather than
intentional, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is
old, he will not depart from it." Prov. 22:6
This is to be done in the informal dynamics of a Household
of God, "Teach them to your children, speaking about them when you sit at
home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get
up." Eph. 2:19,20; Deut 11:19
Shalom,
V.
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