4 questions...

I was raised in church, so pretty much every story that you'd learn in Sunday School, I learned from an early age. I understood that salvation was a free gift, and that although God never WANTS us to go to hell, if we don't accept His free gift, that is our destination. At the age of 6, I asked my mom to tell me how to accept this free gift. We were huddled down in the hallway under a mattress because there was a tornado on it's way to our area. I was scared and thought that I may die, and I knew that unless I did something, I could miss out on God's gift of eternal life. I prayed along with my mom and then a few weeks later, I was baptized. I was so short that I had to stand on a metal chair to see over the baptistry walls. I don't doubt that a young child can accept Christ as their Saviour, but I now realize that it can't just stop there. I'm not saying that I didn't continue to learn about the Bible, but I didn't learn about the character of God and His awesome attributes. It wasn't until I was an adult that I learned how important it is to know God, not just know about Him. When you know about someone, you may be able to quote every statistic or fact about their life, but when you KNOW them, you gain so much more prospective. As you grow in your walk with God, He reveals Himself in such amazing ways! A cloudy day that most people don't even pay attention to can be a reminder of His goodness, a rainbow can remind of His promises and the sight of a newborn baby a reminder of the new life only He can give.

As a parent, I have been trying to teach my girls how important it is to say thank you. We even have to say thank you when someone gives us a gift we don't really like, because the giver put thought and effort into giving it to us. That's hard for a 4 year old, especially one as vocal and unfiltered as Maddie. Sometimes thing come up in our lives that don't make sense. We thank Him when things are going well, but His love never changes and all too many times we forget to thank Him for that unchanging and never-ending love. If you're a mom or dad, aunt or uncle, grandparent or if you don't have kids yet, please remember to take time to teach even the youngest people in your lives about the awesome love of our King! He gave so much for us, and even the dirtiest, smelliest little kid needs not only our love, but the love of our Father. We are His hands and feet, and when we see how much He has done for us, we should be letting the abundance of His goodness and love pour out into our community.

Below I've copied/pasted a simple way to tell kids about how they can have a relationship with our Heavenly Father. It seems so simple , yet there are so many who don't know! Please take time to talk to the youngsters in your life about how great God really is. As you share point 3 with them, please emphasize the fact that salvation isn't just a way to avoid hell, but it's a way to have the greatest love, the love of our Father, in their lives forever.


Kids, we're all in deep trouble and some of us don't even know it.
The Bible tells us in Romans that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
God hates sin. He is perfect and He wants us to be perfect.
He is so holy that somebody has to pay for our sins.
God loves us so much that He gave us a way out of our punishment.
He sent His Son Jesus to pay the penalty for the sins of everyone who believes.
Jesus never sinned, and He died on the cross for us.
We know that God was satisfied with Jesus' sacrifice because God raised Him from the grave.
Jesus is in heaven now, getting ready to come back some day.
If we want to escape our punishment we have to believe in Jesus and follow Him.
We have to give up and turn away from our sins.
Jesus will help us do that. Believing and following Jesus does more than help us escape punishment.
Jesus wants to be our friend and He makes our life right now pretty special.
He also promises that when we die, we will go to be with Him in heaven forever.
Grown-ups call that eternal life.
If you want to be saved from sin, you don't need to wait. You can pray to Jesus right now:
Dear Lord Jesus: I know that I am a sinner and I believe that you died to pay the penalty for my sins. Thank you for taking my punishment. Please come into my heart and help me to live for you. Amen.
You can learn more about Jesus and how to live for Him by talking to someone else who is saved and by going to a good church or Sunday School.