Bible lessons for children

Published 8:42 am Friday, June 19, 2020

Dear Rev. Graham: My church doesn’t have a good program for my children so my wife and I teach them Bible lessons at home. We’re having trouble helping them understand the truth of the Trinity. How important is it that they grasp this? — F.G.

Dear F.G.: God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit make up what’s known as the Trinity. It is at the heart of the Christian faith. “For there are three that bear witness in heaven; the Father, the Word [Jesus], and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one” (1 John 5:7). The Holy Spirit isn’t a thing, but God’s Spirit.

The story’s told of a young boy who asked his father, “How can I believe in the Holy Spirit when I’ve never seen Him?” His father, an electrician, took the boy to a power plant and showed him the generators. “This is where the power comes from to heat our stove and to give us light. We can’t see the power, but it’s in that machine and in the power lines.” Then he asked his son, “Do you believe in electricity?”

When the boy answered yes, his father asked why. The boy answered right: Everyone believes in electricity because they see what it can do. Likewise, though we cannot see the Holy Spirit, believers in Christ know the results of His power in their lives. Surrendering our lives to the Lord Jesus opens up the power source.

The Bible’s very clear that the Holy Spirit is God Himself. When you yearn for God and desire His truth that is the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. A life touched by God’s Spirit will run after sin no longer. It is never a question of how much we have the Spirit, but how much He has of us.

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(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)