The Family Disciple Me Podcast // Discipleship Starts With a Conversation

THE FIVE FINGER GOSPEL | A Handful of Truths to Lead a Child to Christ | Convo #1: Jesus Sees You!

• Tosha Williams for FDM

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A tiny pinky can carry a giant truth: Jesus sees you. We kick off our "Five Finger Gospel" conversations by anchoring a child’s faith—and our own—by starting with the smallest finger to remember that no one is too small or too little to be significant to God. We wiggle our pinky finger to remind us:  "Jesus Sees Me!"

Host Tosha Williams shares a tender childhood memory of an elderly man with a weekly pack of chocolate-covered raisins and how that small act taught her the dignity of being noticed. From there, we open Matthew 19:14—echoed in Mark 10 and Luke 18—to show how Jesus rebuked those who sidelined kids and welcomed them as central to His kingdom. We connect this to 1 Samuel 16:7, reminding ourselves that God sees beyond labels and performance into the heart. If you’ve ever felt overlooked, this conversation offers a way to receive God’s gaze as love, not scrutiny, and to pass that assurance to the next generation.

You’ll hear practical, low-friction ways to weave discipleship into everyday moments: a hand signal kids remember, a spoken refrain—“Jesus sees me”—and habits that make eye contact, names, and presence normal in homes, classrooms, and church hallways. We explore how welcoming children is welcoming Jesus Himself (Mark 9:37), why attention is a form of blessing, and how leaders, parents, and mentors can replace pressure with presence. By the end, you’ll have language, Scripture, and simple steps to help kids know they are seen by God now, not someday.

This episode goes along with an accompanying devotion-driven discipleship guide which can be found on the Family Disciple Me app - - - - soon to be released! Be sure to subscribe, so you can be "First to Know" when the app is launched!

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The Family Disciple Me ministry exists to catalyze devotion driven discipleship in our homes and around the world. We believe that discipleship starts with a conversation, and FDM provides free, easily-accessible, biblical resources to encourage these meaningful conversations along life's way. Sign up through our website to be "the first to know" about upcoming releases and resources (including the FDM App - coming soon!!!) You can also follow Family Disciple Me on social media.

Family Disciple Me is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit ministry, and all donations are tax deductible. More information, blogs, statement of faith and contact info can be found at familydiscipleme.org

SPEAKER_00:

Hey there, friends. Welcome to the Family Disciple Me Ministry, where our goal is to help all of us meet with God and seek Him and then turn around and speak Him into the lives of those that He's entrusted to us. Hi, my name is Tasha Williams, and I am delighted that you're here with us today. You know, we're talking about such an important collection of conversations. I have to say, this is one of my very favorite series because it is so simple and it's so powerful simultaneously. I call this conversation collection the five-finger gospel. This is a tool to help all of us, whether we're parents, grandparents, leaders, teenagers, whoever we are in the journey. This is a simple tool that we can use to lead those entrusted to us to Jesus. This is a visual, it's a memorable way to share the gospel using, well, five fingers, starting with the pinky finger and moving all the way to the thumb. So welcome to the Family Disciple Me Ministry. I'm so glad that we get to spend a few minutes here together as we begin talking about the first truth of the five-finger gospel. And that is the truth that we learn with the little pinky finger, the truth that Jesus sees you. Now, as we begin, I encourage you not just to look at me holding up my left hand, but you take a moment and you hold up your left hand. As we talked about in the last episode, when you do that, when you hold up your left hand, palm facing out, you're going to see an L. And the L reminds us that we get to lead the next generation to Jesus. But now I want you to look at this in a different way because today we're going to focus on the pinky finger. We're going to start where Jesus often started with the children and with the smallest ones entrusted to us. We're going to talk about the smallest finger on our hands. Now, when I was a little girl, I remember an elderly man at our church who would bring me chocolate-covered raisins every week. He didn't have to. I was just a little girl. I was maybe two or three years old. I was very small. But week after week, this gentleman would come up to me as I was standing there with my parents, and he would hand me a small pack of raisinettes. To this day, I love chocolate-covered raisins, probably because of him. Thing is, it wasn't just the treat that made it so special. It was the fact that he saw me. Out of all the grown-ups and all the big conversations that were happening in that church building, he noticed little old me. And that made me feel so known and so loved. And friends, that's exactly what God does for us. Jesus sees us. Our key verse for this particular conversation comes from Matthew chapter 19, verse 14, where Jesus says, Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. It shows up here in Matthew 19, it shows up in Mark 10 and Luke 18. In all three of these, Jesus makes it so clear. He didn't see them as a bother back then, and he doesn't see them as a bother today. Jesus did not look at children as a distraction. In fact, he rebuked the adults and the grown-ups and all the religious people who tried to push them out of the way, to set them aside. No, Jesus wanted the children to come to him. Why? Because kids matter to Jesus. He sees them and they have a place in his kingdom. As we think about this truth, that Jesus sees children. He didn't put a qualifier on that. He doesn't just see the well-behaved ones or the ones who listen in Sunday school or the ones who are all cleaned up or the ones who get good grades or the ones who never act out or the ones who come from perfect families, which by the way, there are no perfect families. Jesus sees every child. Every child. And he doesn't just see them on the outside, what they look like on the outside. He sees their hearts. Let's remember what Scripture says back in 1 Samuel chapter 16, verse 7. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. As we think about this verse in relationship to the children entrusted to us, it's so important to remember that Jesus sees every child. Doesn't matter what labels have been put on them by society or the educational system or even other adults or their their culture, their classmates, our children entrusted to us, they may be small. They may feel overlooked. They may have labels assigned to them. But thing is, God sees past all of that. And they are not invisible to him. Jesus sees these children. And so I want to encourage you to spend some time with the Lord and seek him about this scripture verse, Matthew 19, 14, and see what he wants to say to you first through this verse. Before you even have conversations with another person or with a child about how Jesus sees them, I want you to start with thinking about what he has to say to you through this scripture. I have a feeling that he wants to say something to you about you first. Have you ever felt unimportant? Have you ever felt overlooked? Well, my question is, what does it mean that Jesus sees you and values you just as you are? What does Jesus see in your heart today? Do you believe that you're welcome to him, that you're valuable to him, that he sees you and he loves you right now, right in this moment, not just someday in the future, but now. Thing is, as we wrestle with the truths of this for our own lives, as we seek him about what this means for us, well then as God begins to speak to our identity and our worth, then we can turn around and speak that scriptural truth into the next generation. You see, kids and adults alike. They don't just have to wait for some future moment when Jesus will finally see them. Right now, today, we already have Jesus' attention. We don't need to prove ourselves. We're not a bother to him. We are seen and beloved by him. Jesus sees not just what we do, but who we are. He sees our fears and he sees our faith. He sees our struggles, he sees our smiles, and he says to all of us, from the littlest ones to the very oldest, to each of us. He says, I want you to be a part of my kingdom. What's more, as it pertains to children, to the youngest ones, God is making sure we know through Matthew 19, verse 14, and other verses like it, that children are fully welcomed into his presence now. They don't need to wait until they're older, they don't need to be perfect. Jesus opens the door wide to them and says, Now I see you. Come to me. So how do we respond to that? How do we receive that for our own lives? We receive it with faith. We receive it with openness. We receive it with a willingness to say, Jesus, I know you see me. I want to see you too. And thing is, as we better see Jesus and understand the fact that he sees us no matter how small we are, well, then we can turn around and we can speak that into those that he's entrusted to us. If you're a parent, if you're a teacher, if you're a leader, if you're you're a mentor, you can help the children in your life hold up their five fingers, wiggle their pinky finger, and help them say aloud this truth. Jesus sees me. I think about the fact that I have tiny little grandbabies. They're just learning what their fingers even are, much less how to use them. But already I can help them wiggle that little pinky finger and speak over them. Jesus sees you. You see, as we seek him and meet with God in our own lives, then we're able to speak him. I love how clear that is with the truths of the five-finger gospel. In Mark chapter 9, verse 37, Jesus said, Whoever welcomes one little child such as this in my name welcomes me. That elderly man at my church more than five decades ago, and other adults like him, they welcomed me. They saw me, and in doing so, they pointed me to the God who sees me too. So who are the children, the teenagers, the young adults, even the grown-ups that God is calling you to see today? If you have children or grandchildren, I'm certain that it starts with that child, those children in your own home. I'm certain that you see them. And I encourage you to have a little pinky conversation with them here and there along the way, age appropriate, of course, but teaching them the truth that Jesus sees them. But when I reflect on how I was seen by that elderly man and other godly people decades ago, it makes me also think about all the children that God has put in my life, particularly the children that I see week in, week out at church. I'm inspired by that elderly man's example to not just pass those kids by, but to look them in the eye, to acknowledge their presence, to affirm their worth, because that's what Jesus does. He sees them. And as you and I do that for the children that God entrusts to us and the ones that he sends to us, as we do that, living out this truth of the five-fingered gospel, we become the hands and feet, the eyes and the face of Jesus. As we share the truth with them that Jesus sees you, we will be part of raising up the next generation of Christ followers, both within our families and around our families. So whoever it is that God has entrusted to you today, I encourage you to be sure to see them. Be sure to look at them. Be sure to affirm them. And as God gives you the opportunity, be sure to hold up your left hand and to begin to teach them the truth of the five-finger gospel, starting with the pinky finger. Jesus sees you, telling the next generation that Jesus welcomes them into his kingdom. Oh, friend, I am so excited about how God is going to use this in all of our lives as he sinks deeper into our hearts, those of us involved in this conversation right now, and then sinks this truth deeper into the hearts of those entrusted to us, that he sees us. We are we are seen and beloved by the God of the universe. So, friend, go with him today. In the next episode, we're going to move on to the second truth of the five-finger gospel, and that is the truth that Jesus loves you. Amazing truth. But for now, take a moment to reflect. Spend some time in the devotion-driven discipleship conversation that goes along with this episode. You can find that in the Family Disciple Me app. And I encourage you to use that as a tool to help you seek Him, speak Him. Then, as you do that, friend, watch what God is going to do through you in the next generation. Be encouraged. Until next time, go with God.