delight, and worship. He wants to know and serve God better. The
lower right division shows one who has exchanged the truth for a lie
and is worshiping and serving created things rather than the Creator.
He is involved in idolatry. He bows before things that are not God and
that cannot satisfy.
(^) To be sure, the young child may not be conscious of his religious
commitment, but he is never neutral. Made in the image of God, he is
designed with a worship orientation. Even as a young child, he is
either worshiping and serving God or idols.
(^) David reminds us of this in Psalm 58:3: “Even from birth the
wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward and speak lies.”
The words of Psalm 51:5 are even more familiar: “Surely I was sinful
at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” These verses
are very instructive. Even a child in the womb and coming from the
womb is wayward and sinful. We often are taught that man becomes a
sinner when he sins. The Bible teaches that man sins because he is a
sinner. Your children are never morally neutral, not even from the
womb.
(^) One of the justifications for spanking children is that “Folly is
bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it
far from him” (Proverbs 22:15). The point of the proverb is that
something is wrong in the heart of the child that requires correction.
The remedy is not solely changing the structure of the home; it is
addressing the heart.
The Heart Is Not Neutral
(^) Since there is no such thing as a place of childhood neutrality,
your children either worship God or idols. These idols are not small
wooden or stone statuary. They are the subtle idols of the heart. The
Bible describes such idols using terminology such as fear of man, evil
desires, lusts, and pride. The idols include conformity to the world,
embracing earthly mindsets, and “setting the affections on things