Thursday, December 15, 2011

Age of Accountability

The age of accountability is an age where a young child knows the difference between right and wrong and is capable of making a decision as to which to choose (Isaiah 7:16). This can vary based on the young child but it probably is somewhere around 3 yrs old.

God saves young children the same way He saves older people; that is, by dealing with their heart about sin, their need for a Savior, and that Savior is Jesus Christ.

Here are a few testimonies of mothers whose young children received Christ as their savior.

Source: http://christianforums.net/f32/hjave-your-children-been-saved-what%20-age-6571/

Poster ID:  Guess

"I know there will be some who will disagree with me, but I really believe that my 3 1/2 has already made a commitment with full knowledge to Jesus. She has already started to evangelize
I was listening to a radio broadcast of James Dobson and he said he made a full commitment to Jesus at age 3 and remembers exactly how he felt - I think we need to not under estimate the ability of a child to comprehend.

A child's faith is an amazing thing."

Poster ID:  lovely

"I do not disagree with you M&M...at all. I was saved at a very young age as well...at age three. There was a woman on our block who taught in her home during the week after school, and attended our neighborhood church. A girl who lived beneath us in our flat use to take me after preschool until my dad was home from work, and she took me to this kind lady's home nearly every afternoon. She taught us all about Jesus, and I fell completely in love with Him. My father was an atheist, but I asked him to let me go to church because I loved Jesus...he did. That woman taught me until I was nine nearly everyday after school, and I sat with her in church on Sunday mornings. I just turned 35, and have served Christ for 32 years now. The Lord bless everyone."

Source: http://www.onlinebaptist.com/home/topic/8830-children-accepting-christ/

 Poster ID: Trish

"about one year ago matt and I became very burdened about Bethany. she was only five but I was five when I was saved. we did not want to rush her we just asked questions and made sure if she ever wanted to talk to us about being saved she could. We just prayed really hard because I really felt she understood. About two weeks later she came to us separately and told us that she was saved. She told us both the same story of her personal conversion. She has such a desire to see people saved and prays every day for her two unsaved friends. she also askes God to let her be a missionary. And just last week she was all broken up because she had lied and felt bad about it. I told her all about confessing our sins to God. The point is I see fruit in her life."

Corrie ten Boom was saved at five years old.  We all know what a servant of God she was.

One Wednesday evening she was speaking in a Church giving her testimony and she encouraged those there to not hesitate to share the gospel with their young children because they are capable of understanding the gospel.  There was a parent there that night that had a five year old and decided to do that.   When she got home she went to her daughter's room and explained the gospel to her.   The young girl wanted to ask Jesus to save her so she did.

The next morning this young five year old girl kept singing about heaven and how she was so happy that Jesus saved her.

Her father drove her to school.  In the afternoon he went to pick her up.  He saw children surrounding the front of a school bus and wondered why.  He went to where they were and he saw his daughter laying on the ground dead; she had run in front of the school bus and it hit her.

Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman had an adopted daughter from China that was four years old.   Her name was Maria.  She attended a Christian School where the teacher had the children sing a song about God's big, big house. 

One morning Maria asked her mother while she was getting dressed how she could go to God's big, big house.  Mary Beth decided that Steven needed to talk to her about it.  So when Steven came home after driving another one of their children to school Mary Beth told him that Maria wanted to know how she could go to God's big, big house.  Steven did his best to explain the gospel to her at her level.  He told her about sin, the cross, the resurrection, and forgiveness.  Maria wanted Jesus to save her, so she prayed.  She prayed on her own  asking Jesus to come live inside her and to take her to His big, big house when it was time.

She was so happy and couldn't wait to tell her teacher at school that she was going to go to God's big, big house.

Three months later,  Maria was out playing with some of  her other siblings when she saw her big brother Will coming down the road.  She loved him so much.  She thought that he would help her get on the monkey bars that the others wouldn't help her with.  So she ran to the drive way to greet him.  Will didn't see her and he hit her.  She was badly injured and died.

God knows each person's future.  He knew that the five year old in the first story and the Chapman's four year old were going to die soon.  These children were at an age where God held them accountable for their sin.  God made a way for them to be prepared to stand before Him without sin when they died.

A child is protected by God's grace before he reaches the age of accountability.  But there comes a time when a young child that knows the difference between right and wrong and can make a decision as to which to choose is no longer under that same grace.  The child must decide for Jesus.

The age of accountability is probably different for each child but God knows when the child becomes accountable to Him for their sin.

Pray for the salvation of your young children.  Ask God to help you share the gospel with them at their level.

[Note:  The story of the mother who heard Corrie ten Boom's lecture in Church encouraging parents of young children to share the gospel with them I read in a book many years ago.  I have forgotten the title and author of the book.  The story of the Chapman's four year old adopted daughter's salvation experience can be found in Mary Beth's book, "Choosing to SEE"] 

1 comment:

  1. Dear Pat,
    It is interesting you state the age of 3. Samuel was dedicated to the priesthood at age three; after he was weened. Most children by age three can perform many tasks: potty, feeding self, getting dressed. Some can even perform other things such as simple school things and chores! And regardless of the hormone rushes they experience, they also know some things from right/wrong.

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