Five things that are true about every child

From a talk by Paul Tripp.

1. They were created by God to be revelation receivers.

They were never wired to figure life out on their own. You'll never ever know the things you need to know by just using the process of human discovery. You have to have supernatural revelation.

2. They are by nature interpreters.

Human beings do not live life based on the facts of our experience. We live life based upon the interpretation of the facts. We're meaning makers.

3. They are worshipers.

Human experience is not the most essential thing about the human experience. Worship is. It's what we're born doing and what we continue to do all of our lives.

4. They are hard-wired to seek glory.

We're glory oriented. Glory is why we like chocolate mousse cake and great movies and the last quarter of basketball games. And glory is why we exalt ourselves over others around us: we want to get as much as we can for ourselves.

5. They are self-focused and self-obsessed.

Sin causes us to shrink our lives down to the claustrophobic confines of our lives, our wants and our needs. It makes us incapable of loving anyone else.

God Is Writing Our Story, Not Us

Because these 5 things are true of all of us, as God is writing the story of our lives, we're always inclined to try and take the pen from him so we can write it ourselves.

The Bible is one long story with God's notes. Ministry to children—or ministry to anyone else—means helping them forsake the urge to write their own story, and accept instead that God is the author. Then their story will be embedded in God's larger story of redemption, so that in every circumstance they recognize that their life is about and for God.