After recognizing a slew of children who walked through the AWANA program on Wednesday nights at FBC this spring, I found myself praying that God might take the Word which we have all so strategically tried to plant in our children's minds (as our church partners with parents for the discipleship of children) and that he might make them "oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified" Isaiah 61:3.
My prayer is that our children, students, and adults might realize that following God is not about rules, regulations, do's and dont's, but that we all might live freely in the wonderful truth that knowing God is about a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Thomas struggled to know the way to God. Upon asking Jesus the way to the Father (a process? a program? a list of behavioral expecations? rules and regulations? etc...), Jesus said, "I am the way, and truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" John 14:6.
The first word out of the mouth of Jesus is "I." He is the "I am."
Jesus did not say "this is the way." Rather, he was showing that a relationship with himself is what knowing God is all about.
May the children, students, families, and adults of FBC live in this truth.
Pastor Todd
