Shepherding a Child's Heart

Godward Orientation
The figure below represents the child as a covenantal being. I use
that expression to remind us that all human beings have a Godward
orientation. Everyone is essentially religious. Children are
worshipers. Either they worship Jehovah or idols. They are never
neutral. Your children filter the experiences of life through a religious
grid.
Romans 1:18–19 says: “The wrath of God is being revealed from

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heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who
suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known
about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.”
All people have God’s clear revelation of truth, but wicked people
suppress that truth. They refuse to acknowledge and submit to the
things God has made plain. Paul goes on to say that although they
know God they do not glorify him, but become futile in their thinking
and eventually worship idols.
In the language of Romans 1, your children either respond to God
by faith or they suppress the truth in unrighteousness. If they respond
to God by faith, they find fulfillment in knowing and serving God. If
they suppress the truth in unrighteousness, they will ultimately
worship and serve the creation rather than the Creator. This is the
sense in which I use the term “Godward orientation.”
Choosing Between Two Ways
The upper left segment of the chart shows a person who is a
worshiper of the one true God. The arrow pointing from God
represents God, who is good and kind and holy. He has made all
things for his glory. It is he under whose initiating and sustaining
kindness all creatures dwell. To know him is to know life. The arrow
pointing toward God indicates the Godward orientation of the heart.
The person responds to God’s goodness and kindness with love,

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delight, and worship. He wants to know and serve God better. The
lower right division shows one who has exchanged the truth for a lie
and is worshiping and serving created things rather than the Creator.
He is involved in idolatry. He bows before things that are not God and
that cannot satisfy.
To be sure, the young child may not be conscious of his religious
commitment, but he is never neutral. Made in the image of God, he is
designed with a worship orientation. Even as a young child, he is
either worshiping and serving God or idols.
David reminds us of this in Psalm 58:3: “Even from birth the
wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward and speak lies.”
The words of Psalm 51:5 are even more familiar: “Surely I was sinful
at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” These verses
are very instructive. Even a child in the womb and coming from the
womb is wayward and sinful. We often are taught that man becomes a
sinner when he sins. The Bible teaches that man sins because he is a
sinner. Your children are never morally neutral, not even from the
womb.
One of the justifications for spanking children is that “Folly is
bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it
far from him” (Proverbs 22:15). The point of the proverb is that
something is wrong in the heart of the child that requires correction.
The remedy is not solely changing the structure of the home; it is
addressing the heart.