Teaching Children = BEING Taught Ourselves

Want to hear a wonderful example of sharing the gospel with preschoolers?

I just received this lovely email and thought it might bless you — hope so!

Sending you lots of love,
t

PS
I edited it a bit and took out the identifying information too.

—

Hi Tara,

I’ve been thinking about writing to you for a week or so now. I don’t particularly wish to clutter your e-mail box, but have been chatting with my preschoolers and have been blown away by how simple the gospel really is. I thought you might appreciate hearing about some of the conversations we’ve had at our house – they’ve actually been challenging to me. As you say, it’s the gospel 101 and post-graduate!

Recently, Elizabeth (4) said she didn’t like her sister, Alison (3) and didn’t want to talk to her or even look at her because she’s mean and does things that Elizabeth doesn’t like. In response, I told her about how God made Adam and Eve, loved us so much and made us perfectly. He put Adam and Eve in the garden and told them not to eat from one tree, but they did.

That was the first sin. Elizabeth could identify. She’s done similar things.

And in response, there was distance between God and us. That leads right into the bridge illustration you may have seen before. When I was sharing this with Elizabeth, I was awestruck at the own point I was trying to make. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. When we had offended our perfect, holy, and just God and we couldn’t be relationship with Him, He still pursued us and made a way that we could be in relationship with Him.

I had intended to challenge Elizabeth to love her sister and find ways to embrace her in spite of Alison’s hurtful choices. Instead, I ended up challenging myself to find ways to better love my fellow Christians.

1 John 4:19 says it best, “We love because He first loved us.”
Incredible!

Thanks for being someone out there to whom I can share these things with and for your ministry.

In Him,
J.