We’ve looked at the importance of teaching our children about the deep, deep love that God has for us. We also must teach them about the great and glorious perfection of God.

Isaiah saw the perfection of God. He ended up on His face.

I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple… “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”…And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Isaiah 6:1,3,5

Why we must teach about the holiness of God

In order for our children to understand and appreciate the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, they need to see the great holiness of God (and their great lack of it.) They need to see that all sin is ultimately an offense against God’s character. We need to point out sin in their lives, but the truth of our sinful state is only as weighty as it should be when it is seen in comparison to the truth of God’s holiness. Thus, we must place emphasis on teaching our kids about this often neglected characteristic of God.

I long for my children to understand the awesome holiness of God; not only that He loves them, but that He is a righteous judge. He is perfect and must condemn sin. I want them to see they are not perfect (and neither is their momma!) and deserve condemnation. A true picture of God’s holy majesty and our wretchedness compared to Him leads us to beg Him for mercy. I know that each of us long for our kids to have repentant hearts. Seeing the need for repentance comes only after seeing the offensiveness of their sin towards a holy God.

What to pray for our children

They they would see that they have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23
That they would see their state without God; dead in sin, sons of disobedience, children of wrath, separated from Christ, without hope. Ephesians 2:1-2,12
That they would realize that what they deserve because of their sin is eternal separation from God. Romans 6:23
That they would see the Lord as their ultimate judge, sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up. Isaiah 6:1
That their hearts would be enlightened to the holiness of God, and would cry out “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord!” Isaiah 6:3
That they would see that they are lost and cry out “woe is me!” Isaiah 6:5
That the kindness of the Lord would lead them to repentance. Romans 2:4
That they would be made sorrowful and experience godly grief over their sin, to the point of repentance. 2 Corinthians 7:9-10

Here is free prayer card to help us as we trust God to do this work in our boys’ hearts. Many of these are also great truths to pray for them well after they have accepted Christ.

Just like Isaiah, once our eyes have seen the King we will cry “woe is me!” The natural response of a tender heart towards God, once seeing His holiness, will be repentance. Something I know we all long for in our children!

Stay tuned for next month’s Laying Kindling post. We will look at some oh-so-glorious news for our sin problem!

Teaching our kids the holiness of God is hard. How do you tackle teaching this truth to your boys?

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