Luke wasn’t born a Jedi. He had to spend years as an apprentice, a padawan, learning from Obi-Wan Kenobi. When you are born, you were part of the Dark Side. When you were baptized and by believing in Jesus, no matter how young you are, you are a member of God’s kingdom. At the same time, you also have a lot to learn. You are a padawan too. Your parents are the Jedis whom God has put in your life. He gives them a job to do: “Train a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old he will not turn away from it” (Proverbs 22:6).
Your parents’ most important job is to teach you what God has done for you. Every day they share how Jesus lived for you and died for you. They take you to church and pray with you. They share how Jesus has changed their lives so that you know Jesus is really alive and working in people’s lives today. They also teach you how the world works and what it looks like when you live out your faith. They “make” you volunteer and do nice things for other people so you learn the good habit of serving others. They give you chores to teach you how to be responsible; they allow you to suffer consequences so you learn how to make better choices. They say, “I’m sorry” when they mess up because they model how to ask for forgiveness. They pay attention to the friends in your life because they want to help you make good decisions.
They do all of these things when you are young because they want you to become Jedis too. They want you to train your children, the next group of padawans. “We will tell the next generation about the Lord’s power and great deeds and the miraculous things he has done” (Psalm 78:4).
Listen to your parents, you must.
Chomp on this!
Talk to the Christian adults in your life. Ask them how they learned about Jesus.
