If you’re a Christian and a parent, you doubtless have few priorities more pressing than your children’s salvation. When my children were little, I felt the weight of this constant burden.

A few weeks ago, I rediscovered a picture I’d taken of one of my sons when he was almost 6 years old. He’s wearing a blue denim jacket and standing on the front porch of our house, the grass behind him nearly glowing with the green of early spring. And my son is beaming. He’s just come from playing with friends at the neighborhood park a block from our house. While there, he told me, he’d asked Jesus to save him. I was thrilled, and apparently, I snapped a few pictures as well. The date stamp on the photos says April 17.

More than a month before, my wife noted something similar. On March 11, she’d written down one of our son’s prayers. After our family had finished a brief time in God’s Word together, our son prayed, “God, thank you so much for allowing Jesus to die on the cross and take the punishment we deserved.”

I don’t know when my son became a Christian. He remembers an altogether different set of events. Yet I love reflecting on this prayer and this photo. They mean a lot to me, and they should.

Leading our children to Jesus is part of Christian parenting. But I now believe my sense of burden was misplaced. I misunderstood what the Bible teaches about my children’s salvation.

Beginning the Race

As Christian parents, we’re responsible for bringing up our children in the Lord (Eph. 6:4). We want them to become Christians. We want them to ask Jesus to save them from their sin.

The Bible says that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom. 10:13). The apostle Paul called on the Lord (Acts 22:16). So did the sinful tax collector in the temple, and he went home justified (Luke 18:9–14).

To finish the Christian race, you must begin. Salvation comes to those who “confess with [their] mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in [their] heart that God raised him from the dead” (Rom. 10:9). The content of this confession sounds similar across the pages of God’s Word: I turn from my sin and I trust in the Savior. Conversion has two halves, two sides of the same coin: repentance and faith (Mark 1:15; Acts 20:21; 26:20; 1 Thess. 1:9).

Conversion has two halves, two sides of the same coin: repentance and faith.

As parents, we want to know that our children are truly saved and safe in the arms of the Lord. We want our children to approach the starting line and begin the long race of faith. We want to know that, although last month we were inviting them to trust Christ for salvation, now we can invite them to live as forgiven Christians. Yet the Bible presents a different perspective.

Learning to Run

Repentance and faith—the two halves of conversion—don’t just mark the starting line of the Christian life. They’re the cadence that marks every stride of that race.

Followers of Jesus are always turning away from their sin and turning to the Savior. As often as we pray for daily bread, we should also ask for forgiveness of sins (Matt. 6:11–12; Luke 11:3–4). The apostles taught that calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ was a common pattern of all believers (1 Cor. 1:2). And John 1:12 says that everyone who received Jesus as Savior (in the past) should continue to believe in his name (in the present).

As Martin Luther writes, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent’ (Mt. 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” We don’t begin the Christian life by faith and then leave it behind in favor of self-discipline. And we don’t ever move past the daily need of repentance. Our lives should be marked by “deeds in keeping with [our] repentance” (Acts 26:20). Ongoing faith and repentance authenticate a spiritual life begun at conversion. Faith and repentance, according to Scripture, are lifelong and everyday patterns in a Christian’s life.

So instead of trying to steer your children toward a starting line, why not just invite them to run? When your 3-year-old refuses to obey, whatever else you might do, try saying something like this:

Disobeying Mommy and Daddy is sin. And when you sin, you’re disobeying God. Let’s tell God we’re sorry and ask him to forgive us. He sent Jesus to take away our sin. And let’s ask him to change your heart so you want to obey.

Then guide your child to pray for a heart that wants to trust Jesus and obey him.

Focus on the Prize

Your 3-year-old may not understand everything you say to him. But you’re teaching him that there’s a God, that this God has laws and expects obedience, and that this God has sent his Son to provide forgiveness for those who turn to him. You’re teaching faith and repentance, which should yield the fruit of new obedience. As parents, we cultivate the soil of our children’s hearts, sowing seeds of God’s truth and love—and we pray for the Holy Spirit to bring forth life.

As parents, we cultivate the soil of our children’s hearts, sowing seeds of God’s truth and love—and we pray for the Holy Spirit to bring forth life.

There’s no magic formula for leading children to Christ. Yet in God’s gracious kindness, your children might go from darkness to light. Then, at some point, they should publicly acknowledge their faith in Christ.

So, yes, it’s important for your children to call on the Lord. But it’s not important that you know the exact start date. You’re not teaching them how to get saved; you’re teaching them how to repent and believe. Ultimately, you’re not training them to merely begin the Christian life but to finish their course. In the meantime, you can invite them to run that race—daily, imperfectly, and by his grace—all the way to the end.