Craftsman Kids

Tools. I love tools. Craftsman tools. I cannot remember a time in my life when I did not have, use, love and crave more tools. I love the smell of tools. I love the feel of cold hard steel in my hand. I love the heft of a toolbox full of tools. I love the power of large wrenches, the crisp precision of brand-new screwdriver blades and the utility of vise-grip pliers. (“Vise-grips”, my dad would say beaming, “they’re just the handiest things.”) I can remember sitting on my father’s shop bench as he carefully applied wrench and screwdriver to various projects and appliances. I can remember handing him tools as he worked on our cars, “No son, the wrench, I need the wrench. No, the one just a little bit bigger than that one. There we go…..” I can remember as a toddler, carrying tools around tucked into my belt, or loosely clanging around in the pockets of my overalls. I can recall imaginary cars on which I “worked”, spinning wrenches and twirling screwdrivers in the air with great purpose and intensity. I remember turning wrenches on real bolts with my Dad hunched over me, his breath in my ear, his hand on my hand as we spun wrench and bolt together. “No son, the other way, remember we’re loosening the bolt. There, that’s it…”

I used my Dad’s tools until I could afford to buy my own. And when I bought my own, I bought Sears Craftsman. Why Craftsman? Because they’re the best tools for the dollar. Oh sure, you can pay more for tools. But Craftsman tools are good quality at an affordable price and they are guaranteed unconditionally if they break. If the tool breaks for any reason, you take it in to Sears and they replace it, no questions asked. Why would you pay more? And the cheap tools? Fugedaboudit! They’ll only wreck the things that you are working on, and when they break in your hands (and they surely will sooner or later) they will bloody your knuckles and you will be “out” whatever you paid for the cheap little pieces-of-garbage!

Do I sound prejudiced? Do I sound biased? That’s because I am. It’s odd though, I cannot recall a single lecture from my Dad on tool brands, or a persuasive speech on which ones to buy. My Dad loved tools (and still does.) My Dad bought and used Craftsman tools. He let me play with Craftsman tools. He enfolded my small hands in his and gently taught me how to use Craftsman tools. And later on (I think with much pride) he watched me work on my own cars and appliances with Craftsman tools. To this day, whenever I visit the shop or garage of another man, my eyes immediately scan the bench to critique his tools. If they look like no-name tools I think to myself, “Poor guy...” If they are Snap-on tools, I think to myself, “Sure, they’re great tools, but you should’ve bought the Craftsman tools and taken your family to Scotland with what you saved.”

Tools. I love tools. Craftsman tools. I also love the Lord Jesus Christ with a love that eclipses my affection for tools. Granted, the supernatural operations of the Holy Spirit were indispensable for the latter love. But the means used by God to cause me to love His Son were not unlike the means used by my Dad to inspire my loyalty to the Craftsman brand.

I began congregating with other saints around Word and Sacrament the Sunday after I was born. I cannot remember a time when I was not prayed with, and prayed for. My first stories were Bible stories, and later on the tales of Narnia, all of which were read to me as I sat in my father’s lap, his arms reaching around me, his breath in my ear. I cannot recall a time when I did not have, or was not reading my own copy of the Scriptures. Growing up, I was expected to exhibit the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and spanked when I did not. Many a night I went to sleep listening to the songs of the saints drifting up to my bedroom from the living room below. And later when I was in Junior High, I met with my own friends (and my father) in that same living room to sing praises to God and to study His Word. I cannot determine when I was converted. For I, like Timothy, have known the Scriptures which were able to make me wise unto salvation from my infancy (2 Timothy 3:15).

So here are a few questions: “When do we start treating our children like Christians? Do we wait until our offspring profess personal faith in Jesus Christ? Or do we from infancy assume (based upon the promises that God gives to faithful parents) that they are elect, and treat them as if they were?”

I would submit that if we desire our children to grow up loving God, that we need to treat them like Christians from the moment they enter this world. For example:

- We should think of them, and address them as “little saints” not “little pagans”.

- We should teach them to obey us in the Lord.

- We should insist that they love the Lord their God with all or their heart, mind, soul and strength.

- We should teach them to pray prayers that begin with “Dear Heavenly Father…” and end with “in Jesus Name.”

- We should lead them in songs where they sing: “Away distrustful care, I have Thy promise Lord to banish all despair, I have thine oath and word….Great is Thy faithfulness O God my father, there is no shadow…..Amazing Grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me…The Lord is my Shepherd, no want shall come nigh……A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing…..Whate’er my God ordains is right, holy His will abideth….This is my Father’s world….On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand…”

- We should expect them to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control) and discipline them (disciple them) when they do not.

- We should teach them to confess their sins.

- We should charge them to forgive one another as God has forgiven them in Christ.

- We should insist that they forsake not the meeting together of the brethren.

- We should charge them to live lives worthy of the Gospel and to hold fast the word of life.

- Simply put, we should require them to live their little lives as Christians.

Given the enormity of the task before us, that is, to teach our children to love, fear and obey God, didactic teaching is not enough. We must pick up the tools with them, and enfolding their tiny hands in ours, guide them in Christian prayer, Christian worship and Christian obedience. And we must do so looking to the mercy of God, not to our own faithfulness as parents. True religion never starts with good works, it always starts with faith in the promises. But true faith always exhibits itself in good works. So before you commence instructing and spanking your little ones, start by taking God at His word when He promises such things as:

And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. (Deuteronomy 30:6)

Believe God’s promises for yourself and for your children. And then live and raise your children as if God actually keeps His promises, because He does. Remember that while it is indeed presumptuous to expect things that God has not promised, it is simply faith to trust Him for the things that He has promised. Search the Word to discover God’s promises for your children, and then disciple them. Love your children confident that you are God’s means for fulfilling His promises to them. Remember, your faithful child rearing does not obligate God to be merciful to your children, it is simply evidence of God’s mercy to them.

In short, raise your children as if God’s promises are true, and they will be.