It wasn’t the first thing I thought, but maybe it was the second thing: how am I going to tell the kids?
The doctor had just presented the cold, harsh truth: “Your friend, Ken, is dead. “Ken was a dear friend of the family, a man my children loved. A long-time member of the church I serve as a pastor, not die suddenly?during the construction of the church building, in the midst of his work. A heart attack carried him in his Savior’s arms in an instant this cloudy autumn morning. Our team was upset. The congregation was disturbed, my children, who helped them regularly in the church, while I started meetings, counseled members, or worked in the preparation of the sermon, were the most disturbed of all. I planned to talk to them carefully and tell them the sad news that night.
- Our family faced death again last week with my father-in-law’s sudden departure.
- Like Ken.
- He clearly loved Jesus and sought to please him.
- Fortunately.
- It does not sadden us like those who have no hope (1Q 4.
- 13).
- The news was heard.
- My wife and I faced again the fact that I had to tell our four children.
- 7 to 13 years old.
- The sad news.
As a pastor, I have always felt that serving as a messenger of bad news was particularly difficult, it is even more complicated when spoken to young hearts whose ability to understand death and all its implications is limited. In vague and non-threatening terms, or are we talking about it directly as we can with another adult?
My wife and I believe none of the approaches are useful. Obviously, how much and exactly what you’re saying will be very different for a smaller child than for a 12-year-old. However, there are basic biblical realities that everyone should know.
Here are five basic truths that we explain to our children when death visits us.
Unfortunately, death is part of our fallen world and the Bible does not forget this truth. Psalm 139 tells us that God has counted our days. Since the Word does not dismiss this truth as “extremely negative,” we should not.
Our family has had friends who have never told their children about negative news, such as natural disasters or 9/11. They established the rule never to speak of death. I think that is not wise. By avoiding bad news, parents raised their children to have irrational expectations and great disappointment. This approach, in a subtle but unintentional way, communicates that life on earth is final; worse, it does not justify why the gospel is good news. brings us one step closer to the last day and our children must be aware of this.
There is also a judgment that awaits each of us (Heb 9:27). I want my children to know that, as the great Southern Baptist preacher, R, said. G. Lee (1886-1978), “Will a Payday Come?” about how we live on earth (2 Corinthians 5:10).
This biblical truth is what makes death particularly sad. Tell your children that death is an intruder in this world, that Adam’s first sin opened the door through which the curse of death came. Cornelius Plantinga’s book? Not so, a summary of the dynamics and nature of sin is an essential resource (for adults) to help you put more biblical flesh in the bones of this doctrine.
Also explain to your children that this is why we are saddened when someone dies. In our pain, through our tears, we admit that there is really no death from natural causes.
In Philippians 1, the Apostle Paul is part of the fact that it is better for him to leave this world to be with Jesus or to stay there to promote the gospel. Then Paul writes: “For me, living is Christ and dying is In a culture that does everything in its power to prevent human beings from aging and dying, it is a deeply countercultural truth, but for the believer, crossing the cold river of death is the path to paradise and pleasures that defy the descriptive capacity of human language.
Give your children the unsathed good news from 1 Corinthians 15:26: “The last enemy to destroy is death. “When “not yet” collapses, death will be history, and it is a source of joy. a precious opportunity to recommend Christ to their children, to encourage them to flee to the cross where death has been overcome and mercy is found.
I don’t want my children to be obsessed or paralyzed by fear of the ghost of eternity. That said, 18th-century pastor and theologian Jonathan Edwards is an excellent example of the need to meditate on death, even at an early age. In fact, Edwards was much older than my young children when he wrote his famous resolutions, the seventh of which is: “I decide to think a lot about the brevity and brevity of life (Ps 90:17).
Edwards understood that life is a vapour and that death must motivate us to live in another world. Tell your children that for those who are in Christ, our best life is the next.
What do we tell our children about those who seem to have died unbelievers?It’s even more complicated, but it gives us a fundamental opportunity to talk about eternity, both heaven and hell. We must not be less clear about hell than our Lord. , who spoke much more in the Gospels of condemnation than in paradise.
If I talk to adults or children, I always avoid assessing the eternal fate of someone who seems to have died in disbelief. Certainly, I say clearly that anyone who is saved must go to God by faith in Jesus. But we’ve told our children. (and I have told the relatives of the unbelievers) that the person who died is in the hands of God, a just and just judge who always does the right thing. I do not express myself in this way to avoid or minimize the reality of God. anger; it simply prevents me from being in the position of eternal judge.
While there is much more to say about death, should our children be prepared, depending on age, to live in a world captive to sin and death, and need to know why the good news of God’s rescue mission in Christ and their victorious battle against death on the Cross of Calvary are , in fact, good news.
By: Jeff Robinson. © The Gospel Coalition. Website: thegospelcoalition. org. Translated with permission. Source: 5 Ways to Talk to Your Kids About Death.
Original: 5 ways to talk to your young children about death. © Return to the Gospel. Website: voltemosaoevangelho. com All rights are reserved Translation: Camila Rebeca Teixera Review: Renata Machado Gandolfo.