We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done (Psalm 78:4).
This passage instructs us to lay before our children the glorious deeds of the Lord—how strong and powerful He is, and the wonders that He has done. This concept reaches its apex at the Cross; a place where the gloriousness and the powerful reality of God converged, as God willingly sacrificed his son—to the wonderment of the world—and the wonderment of all of the universe. The challenge we face is that this message is either set in the context of a culture that is inclined to reject it, or that the message of God’s glorious deeds is never even heard.
As great as the vision is of telling children the glorious deeds of the Lord, there is a counterbalance in this verse of what must not be done: We must not hide these things from our children. Hide means to conceal. It means to cover. It also means to deny. You can hide something by simply denying its truthfulness. Every child, every adult for that matter, but particularly every child, needs to have the truth of the Scriptures brought to bear on his or her life because there is a false and natural narrative that children embrace from the very beginning of their lives. If nothing is done to alter that, the false narrative natural to children will serve to counteract and to deny the true gospel that can save them.
The truth is a necessity because of the denial that naturally exists within the heart of every child. Following are four of the false beliefs children are born with:
It’s All About Me
Every child is born into the world believing they are the center of the universe. No one had to teach a child how to say the word mine.
I remember one time when I was getting on a bus in Ukraine. I saw a child getting off the bus and his mother put her hand out to stop him, and he slapped it and said something in Ukrainian. I don’t know Ukranian, but I knew exactly what that child was saying. That child was saying in Ukranian, "I do it!"
I Am the Best
The narrative born in the heart of every child is that “you are the best; you are better than others.”
My wife teaches our kindergarten Sunday school class and she comes back on Sundays with the most unbelievable stories, and the most beautiful illustrations of the depravity of man. Part of her lesson involves teaching the Ten Commandments. Her main aim is to help children understand that they're sinners. This is sometimes a very challenging task. In one lesson she asked some children if they were sinners. One boy raised his hand and said, "No, I'm not. But my sister sure is!"
No one had to teach him to say that. His mom didn't get in the car and say, "When you're asked today, tell them your sister's a sinner, but you're not." That is baked into the fabric of our humanity—tragically so.
I Deserve to Be Happy
I remember my children riding in the back of our van telling me, "You don't make me very happy, Dad." That created a great teaching moment for me to remind them that my ultimate aim in life is not their happiness.
Nothing Should Stand in My Way
This is prevailing in our culture: whatever you believe that you are, you must be. And don't let anybody tell you that you're not who you believe you are on the inside. This false narrative is doing incredible damage as little children are trying to determine their identity and trying to find it inside themselves. How tragic is it, that we would ask a child to define for themselves who they really are?
We’re all born wanting what we want. That's the problem. Our “want” is broken; so broken we're willing to do just about anything to get what we want.
One Sunday I asked my wife, “How was Sunday School today?” She said, “It was a little awkward.” I said, “Why?” “We have a contest going to help the kids memorize the Ten Commandments,” she said. “When they do, I give them an award.” I said, “OK, what happened?” She said, “Well, we had a little girl lie about memorizing the Ten Commandments.” That’s challenging.
This brokenness is bound into the heart of our humanity. Whenever I begin to talk about this, I hear a particular song in the back of my head—it’s crazy. Part of the reason I hear this is because when I was growing up, I used to watch Captain Kangaroo. And there was a public service announcement that was often broadcast in the mornings and there was this song. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgdFMIk38Ms) I want you to hear the narrative of this song.
The most important person in the whole wide world is you and you hardly even know you.
The most important person in the whole wide world is you come on, we'll show you.
Let’s find out more about the things you feel and do cause you’re the most important person in the world to you.
They put that in a song and sent it to millions of children in the ‘70s. That's why I'm so messed up! This is the sort of narrative the gospel comes into.
Why do we need to tell children the glorious deeds of the Lord, and of His might, and of His wonders? Because hiding these truths from them is not just the difference between information and lack of information, or truth and ignorance. It's the difference between a path that produces life and a path that produces death.
The gospel narrative says you're not the center of the world, God is the center. It says not that you're the best, but that God is the one Who is glorious and He is what is truly best. It says true happiness is not found in yourself, but rather, eternal happiness—and happiness even now—is found in your relationship with God. The gospel tells the truth: That God is a gracious, loving creator who loves you, redeems you, and rescues you—from what? From yourself.
We must not hide these truths from our children. We must help them to know that they are not "the most important people in the whole wide world." But instead, the most important person in the whole wide world is God. Truth78 exists to say, "Come, let me show you. The most important person in the whole universe is God. So gather round. Let me show you."
This article was adapted from the message Mark Vroegop gave at the Truth78 launch event in April, 2018. You can watch the full event here.
About the author: Mark Vroegop is the Lead Pastor at College Park Church in Indianapolis. His articles have been published in Leadership and 9Marks journals, and he serves on the boards of Life Action Ministries and Cedarville University, his alma mater. Mark and his wife, Sarah, have four children, Hayden, Joseph, Jeremiah, and Savannah, and one daughter, Sylvia, who is in heaven after her unexpected still-birth in 2004.
