Think about the kids in your life. They can make you feel overwhelmed with love and also frustrate you endlessly. They can exhaust you yet also fill you with energy and fun. These might be your own kids, the ones in your extended family and friendships, the ones you serve at church, the ones in your community — or any or all of the above.
As we’re reminded in Mark 10:13-16 (NLT), children are precious to Jesus: “One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him. When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, ‘Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.’ Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.”
It’s our shared responsibility to help train children up and teach them diligently (Proverbs 22:6; 2 Timothy 3:14-17), remind them of God’s faithful commandments (Deuteronomy 6:5-7) and tell them how they are created by God and loved by Him (Psalm 139:13-18).
Kids especially need to know that God loves them, He values them and He created them on purpose with a purpose.
Anyone who spends time with kids knows they will need regular reminders as they learn and embrace these truths. (Actually, we all need regular reminders at every age, don’t we?)
Here are six more truths that kids of all ages — and even adults too! — can learn, apply and remember. These truths can help kids learn how to love God and live on mission to share His love with others.
1. God Has the Best Plans and Missions
It can be difficult for kids to grasp spiritual concepts like “sin” and “salvation.” But by presenting them with these truths in easy-to-understand ways, you can help them learn about the Bible and God’s plan for them:
In the beginning, God created the world and everything in it, including people — the only part of creation made in His image (Genesis 1:26-28). When He finished, He looked over all He had made and saw that everything was good. But then the first two people, Adam and Eve, broke the good rules God gave and sin entered the world. When that happened, things weren’t perfect anymore. And that meant that people couldn’t be near God — because He is perfect and we are not.
But God had a plan to let people be near Him again: He sent His own Son, Jesus, to earth as the Rescuer to save people from sin: “‘For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him’” (John 3:16-17, NLT).
God’s great mission is to take everything that has been broken by sin and fix it through Jesus, who took the punishment of sin to free people from it.
This is the Good News, the best news ever, and we want all people to know and understand it for themselves! That’s why the Bible needs to be translated into every language: so that every person in every country can learn about Jesus.
Our greatest God-given purpose is to be part of telling people the Good News — that Jesus loves them, He can save them from sin and He gives eternal life.
We all have our own personal missions and unique plans that God has assigned and prepared for each one of us. When we intentionally seek God’s will in our unique purposes and intentionally share Jesus’ love and truth with others, we truly live on mission for our Creator.ow and understand it for themselves! That’s why the Bible needs to be translated into every language: so that every person in every country can learn about Jesus.
2. God’s Word Is Our Guide
Every good mission has plans, instructions and desired results. God has given us a guidebook that holds all the details we need to know to follow Him and His good missions. That guidebook is His living, active, powerful Word (Hebrews 4:12) — the Bible! But it isn’t just something we read once and then store on a shelf. It’s for all of these things and more:
- The Bible teaches us that we’re made in God’s image.
- The Bible teaches us who God is and how He wants us to live.
- The Bible teaches about God’s mission to rescue us.
- The Bible teaches about Jesus’ life and how He wants us to follow Him and make disciples.
- The Bible shows us we belong in the Kingdom of God forever.
Scripture helps guide us through every season of life. It gives us wisdom and purpose and draws us closer to God. When we can access it in our own language, it changes our lives!
3. Everyone Needs God’s Word, But Not Everyone Has It
Everyone needs the Bible. Unfortunately, not everyone has it. Some people can’t read it. Others can’t hear it or watch it. And many can’t understand it because it’s not in their language yet. Can you imagine never learning about God through His Word? Or never knowing how much He loves you?
The Bible holds God’s instructions for living the best kind of life — a life that follows Jesus’ ways on earth and leads to eternal life in heaven. Without the Bible, we don’t really know what we should do or how we should live.
That’s why everyone should care about people getting the Bible in their own language. When all of God’s people live on mission, we can keep giving and sharing until every person has the Bible and understands both God’s great mission and their personal mission in ways that make sense to them!
4. Bible Translation Lets Us Live on Mission to Help Share God’s Word
Through Bible translation, God is ensuring all people have His Word in the languages and formats they clearly understand, so they can be transformed forever by His love! Kids might not know the history behind BIble translation, but here’s a quick and easy way to help introduce them to the idea:
Back in the 14th century, a man named John Wycliffe was frustrated that the Bible wasn’t available in English. Only priests had the Bible, and it was in Latin. Not many people knew enough Latin to truly understand the Bible. As people sat in church, much of what the priests shared probably didn’t make sense to them.
So John Wycliffe decided he would help change that. He wanted to be able to learn and read God’s Word for himself. John decided he would translate the Bible into English so that everyday people could understand exactly what God was saying. And that’s exactly what he did.
It’s a huge blessing that God inspired people like John Wycliffe! Without them, we wouldn’t be able to understand for ourselves what the Bible says.
Today, people all over the world are still waiting for translators to translate the Bible into their languages too. And that’s why Wycliffe Bible Translators exists.
Our organization’s name comes from John Wycliffe and his mission to help every man, woman and child have God’s Word in the languages and formats they can clearly understand.
5. God Is On the Move Through Bible Translation
God is making Himself known through the work of Bible translation all over the world. One amazing story happened in Madagascar. A woman named Olivia who lives there helps people check that their Bible translation work is accurate and clear in the local languages.
One day, Olivia was visiting another community for a Bible dedication. She was asked to go door to door to tell people about Jesus and the Bible they could now read in their own language called Tsimihety. But there was one problem: Olivia didn’t know Tsimihety.
Still, Olivia decided she would knock on doors and trust that God would help her.
At one home, an old lady answered and told Olivia, “I don’t have time for you.”
But Olivia started sharing the Good News of Jesus anyway. That’s when the miracle happened: Olivia realized she wasn’t speaking her own language — she was speaking Tsimihety!
Before that moment, Olivila had no idea how to speak Tsimihety. But God gave her the gift to speak it so the old woman could hear about His love in the language that she dreams in, thinks in and now prays in!
The woman decided to accept Jesus as her Savior. Olivia gave her the Tsimihety Bible, and now the woman can learn more about how much Jesus loves her.
Olivia accepted her mission from God that day to go and tell people about Him, even though she didn’t even know the language. Her story is a wonderful example that shows when we choose to obey God, He will help us do what He asks — and might even make miracles happen along the way!
6. Everyone Can Live on Mission in Many Different Ways
God is on the move to make His name known to every person in every language in every country. And both adults and kids can join Him on this mission! There are so many ways to say “yes” to Him. Here are just a few ideas:
- Encourage kids to talk with God throughout their day. You get to know someone better by spending time with them, talking and listening. And just like that, kids can chat with God like they would a best friend. And did you know that one child’s prayers helped a community in Easter Island get God’s Word? It’s true!
- Read your Bible every day — and read it together as a family! Let God communicate with you, no matter your age, through His Word. Let Him guide you and draw you closer to Him.
- Learn more about Bible translation with fun activities. Kate & Mack resources provide stories, lessons and hands-on experiences so kids can discover more about God’s great love for all people and why everyone needs a Bible they can understand.
- Give back to God with your time, skills and money. You’re never too young to give to Bible translation — just ask 5-year-old Kori, whose generosity helped print the Isnag Bible! But giving can also include spending time with people or volunteering at your church or in your community.
- Invite others to join your mission. Maybe you want to tell others about God’s great mission and about Bible translation. You can invite them to join you!
- Get your whole church involved. One way your church can advance the Great Commission is through Bible translation. Without Scripture, the Church cannot fully engage in evangelism, discipleship and church planting, which are all needed to fulfill Jesus’ command to “make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19, NLT).
You can be part of helping kids understand that when we say “yes” to personal missions from God, we also join in His big mission for all of us. Working together, we can reach the whole world with the message of the gospel.
And we won’t stop until everyone, in every language, has God’s Word in a language that touches their hearts and transforms their lives forever!
