WHAT CHILDREN KNOW AND ADULTS CAN LEARN ABOUT RELATING TO GOD

“Daddy,” asks four-year-old Ben, “How old is God?”

Daddy, who has been through this before, answers, “God doesn’t have an age, Ben. He just always was and always will be.”

“Oh,”says Ben, taking that in. He looks down. “I’m sad, Daddy, because then God doesn’t get to have birthday parties.”  

Daddy, who is learning fast, says, “Well, Ben, you don’t have to be sad, because Jesus does have a birthday. We celebrate it every year at Christmas.”

Ben’s face lights up. “Hurrayyy!” Then his brows furrow. “But why don’t we give Jesus gifts? All we do is get gifts.”

Daddy tears up a little, if the truth be told. And rolls with it: “Very true, son. What do you think Jesus would like for a birthday present?”

Ben looks up, brown eyes pondering, finger on his bottom lip. 

“Ummm. I know! I’m going to draw him a picture of me and Mommy and you and Sissie.” He beams, running off to his room to do just that. "Then Jesus will know what we look like!" Ben calls out joyfully from the top of the stairs.

Children are gifted with an intuitive sense 

for relating to God. They are:

Open, not judgmental

Curious, not fearful 

Accepting, not resistant 

to, the nature of God

During their Preschool years, young children ask "why" questions like, “Does God wear clothes?," "Can God come for dinner tonight?," or “Where does God live?” They are busy assimilating information from their parents, yet displaying an intuitive openness and acceptance of the idea of God.

Still innocently accepting—not skeptically resisting—School age children are often moved on by the Holy Spirit to accept Christ as their Savior without understanding the theology behind it, but surrendering nonetheless with little fuss about it, differentiating the “before” and “after” experience within their spirit, integrating the essential belief that Jesus belongs to God and they belong to Jesus, a concept they see as very natural.

Adolescents develop increased self-consciousness and are more wary of the idea of God, perhaps because in the maturation process they have had to reject worldly myths, such as Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy; but they still are drawn to the Ideal of Someone who is supremely authentic, Someone worthy of radical trust. Their idealism can find differentiation within church settings that offer youth fellowship, appealing to their social needs and to their beginning theoretical integration of Jesus’ life and personality with their own.

Indeed, Christian Personality Theory asserts that it is God’s presence in humankind, and in the particular lives of the child or adolescent, that quickens their sense of right or wrong, and woos them toward a personality integration that counters anxiety, apathy, or alienation that often haunt the human condition.

From young adulthood through middle age and beyond, persons find themselves facing issues like how to integrate the sudden death of someone dearly loved; how to handle a bad accident or tragic illness, wondering where God is and why there is no sense of his presence; or how to maintain faith even though the effects of aging heighten the awareness of mortality.

“Truly I tell you," Jesus said, "anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” Mark 9:37).

CHRISTIAN PERSONALITY THEORY