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If you ever visit the Art Institute of Chicago, don’t get too close to the paintings. The guards may wonder if you’re up to some kind of mischief. But for one painting, you’ll especially want to back up. You won’t be able to appreciate it properly if you stay close.
This particular painting (“A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte”) was created in the mid-1880s by Georges Seurat. It features a city park filled with people enjoying the sunshine alongside a beautiful river. The painting took years to make, for two reasons. First, it’s huge! The painting is 10-feet wide and 7-feet tall. But more importantly, every brushstroke is simply a very tiny dot. Can you imagine how long it would take for the artist to add over 200,000 dots of just the right color to create the single, enormous scene? Up close you can marvel at the mechanics. But you’ll miss what the painting actually portrays.
That’s a small picture of a big danger in children’s ministry: we can teach many true details about Jesus and still miss the whole portrait. The danger isn’t always false teaching, it’s small teaching.
John’s Gospel helps us here. Backing up all the way to the start of all things, this Gospel put before us the most stunning panorama In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John. 1:1).
We can get so close to certain parts of Jesus’s story — His miracles, His kindness, His commands — that we can miss the whole portrait. We can focus on what Jesus did while missing who Jesus is: the God-Man. Beholding the Word made flesh — fully God and fully man — changes everything.
It Changes the Way We Approach God
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world (John. 1:9).
It may seem the most obvious thing, but let’s pause over the fact that the God-Man came into our world. He came down to us. The Father took the initiative to send his one and only Son.
Like dropping a ladder of salvation (Genesis 28:12), God reached down and created a way for humans to connect with Him. Yet this ladder is not what some may think. Many children (and adults) think Jesus came to show us how to be good. And if we climb this ladder, one rung at a time, we can please God and go to heaven when we die.
God has created a ladder that spans from humanity to Himself. But that ladder is not a method by which we climb. It’s a gift that we receive. Jesus, the God-Man , with divine nature that reaches all the way up to God and human nature that reaches all the way down to mankind, is the ladder.
On our own, we could never climb high enough; we could never be good enough. But Christians are people who by faith belong to Jesus. We are united to the God-Man. And where He goes, we go. We may approach God only through Jesus. He came down to man so that with Him we might go up to God. So when a child asks, “Have I been good enough for God?” we can say, “You can’t climb to God, but Jesus came down to you.” God came to be where we are, and He’s the only way we could go to be where God is.
It Changes the Way We Relate to God
And the Word became flesh (John. 1:14).
Jesus became an actual human being. As Paul says, he emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:7). As a real human, He experienced hunger (Matthew 4:2), thirst (John 19:28), weariness (John 4:6), sleep (Mark 4:38), sorrow (Matthew 26:37–38), pain (Matthew 27:26–35), and death (Matthew 27:50). Even now, the resurrected Jesus sits enthroned in heaven as a human being. The book of Hebrews reminds us what this means:
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:15–16).
When we struggle and life is hard, it’s easy to conclude that God is far off. But Hebrews teaches us that in those exact moments, Jesus knows exactly what that’s like. He’s been there. And even now, He’s still human. So when we or the children we serve go through difficult times, we know the God-Man sympathizes with our suffering. Because we are united to Him, when we hurt, Jesus knows that hurt too (Acts 9:4).
So when a child says, “No one understands me,” you can say, “Jesus does.” The incarnation means Jesus didn’t just come close to save us from our wickedness, He’s also drawn near to sympathize when we are weak.
It Changes the Way We Imitate God
In him was life, and the life was the light of men (John. 1:4).
Lots of people have ideas about “the good life,” about what it means to be fully human. Real living might look like being your own boss, becoming a famous influencer, or expressing yourself without fear. But the Bible says the “good life” looks like Jesus. If you want to live the ultimate good life, you need to act like the God-Man.
There were examples to follow before Jesus (1 Corinthians 10:6, 11), including Adam and Eve who were made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26–28). But they weren’t the first to carry God’s image.
Paul teaches that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth (Colossians 1:15–16). Before anything or anyone was created, the One who created all things was the image of the invisible God. Jesus was the original pattern for humanity, who were made “in the image of God.” Jesus is the image, and we are made “in” His image.
So since what it means to be human is to be made in the image of God, and since Jesus is the image of God, the more we live like Jesus, the more fully we can live as human beings. When you follow Jesus, your decisions and priorities are going to seem out of step with lots of other people. You may be accused of being on the wrong side of history, but they are on the wrong side of humanity. Following the God-Man and His example is true living.
It Changes the Way We Await God
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John. 1:5).
Jesus came into a world darkened by sin and sorrow. And He experienced the darkness of opposition, hatred, and rejection by men and women who loved the darkness more than the light of God (John 3:19). And then Jesus was betrayed, tortured, and executed. His life didn’t look like “the good life.” Instead, in His death, He looked like someone who’d been abandoned by God.
Yet the darkness did not overcome the light. On the third day, the Father showed who Jesus really was: His beloved Son. By the Spirit, He raised Jesus to life, exonerating Him and powerfully declaring Him to be His righteous Son (Romans 1:4; 1 Timothy 3:16). Jesus’ life might have been full of suffering, but that was not the end of the story.
And so it is with all those who belong to Jesus. We too face hardship, disappointments, and losses. Yet since our lives are connected to our resurrected Lord, we know how our story ends as well. For followers of Jesus, the cross always leads to the empty tomb. So we can be assured that suffering is not forever; hardship will always end in blessing. Sometimes that resurrection will happen in the next week, next month, next year, and sometimes not until the next life in glory. But because we belong to the resurrected God-Man, we know it is guaranteed to happen.
As we serve the next generation, we must remind ourselves and them that life will be hard. We follow Jesus who experienced staggering pain and hardship. We shouldn’t expect any different kind of life, yet we follow the God-Man who was raised to true and unending life (Romans 6:8–11). The way of the God-Man may lead into the valley, but it never ends there.
So when a child says, “Will this ever get better?” we can say, “Because Jesus rose, this isn’t the end.”
Suffering is real, but it’s never the last word.
In all your ministry to the next generation, always keep in view the bigger picture about Jesus. Let’s help young hearts connect the dots and see the whole Christ. We follow and worship Jesus Christ, the God-Man.
Check out Champ’s latest release, It’s Good to be a Boy.
Champ Thornton serves as the director of children and family resources at Crossway. He and his wife, Robben, have been married since 1996 and live in Newark, Delaware, where they enjoy raising their three children. Champ is the author of several books for kids and families, including The Radical Book for Kids, Why Do We Say Good Night?, and Wonders of His Love. He has also hosted the family devotional podcast In the Word, On the Go. Champ holds a PhD in Theology from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and has served in both church and publishing roles throughout South Carolina, Ohio, and Delaware.
