Kids & Learning How to Repent

Today our lesson was on sin and what it means to repent. I think this is such an important part of a child's spiritual development, because, well, sinning is pretty much inevitable (Romans 3:23). Teaching children how to handle their sin could very well make a difference on how well they follow Jesus now and for the rest of their lives.

In Kingdom Kids we defined sin as "falling short of God's best design". We can sin by making the wrong choice, and sometimes we sin by mistake. The kids all readily recognized their own sins, which on a side note is a necessary realization that precludes trusting Jesus for salvation, so that is a great place for them to be. 

Next, I introduced the word REPENT, simply defined as "turning direction".  This opened our discussion further to what it meant to 'follow Jesus' and when we sin, we begin to go 'crooked and off the path'.  In order to avoid getting too far off the path and away from Jesus we needed to "Repent"... or in other words "Stop, Drop, & Roll". 

Stop: When we do wrong, stop as soon as we recognize it.

Drop: Drop to our knees and pray. Ask God to forgive you and to help you do what's right.

Roll: Roll right back on over to the path of following Jesus.

The kids enjoyed practicing this and we learned many lessons through interacting with it.  Mr. Brian became "Jesus".  He stood across the room with his eyes on us, and each child had an opportunity to walk towards "Jesus" and then sin and trail across the room the other direction.  Some things we learned:

• One bad choice can often lead to another one, so we need to try to stop always as soon as possible. 

• If we keep going off the path too far, we can run into a hard wall. One of us ran into a couple of hard walls before deciding to repent and change direction back to Jesus.

• Jesus was always there. He always loved us, and never turned away. He always welcomed us back after we repented and we could never stray too far away that we couldn't turn around and find Jesus watching and welcoming us to him. 

• A simple prayer is all that is needed, and everyone could do it in their own words.

Teaching and guiding our children with a healthy perspective on sin and repentance helps avoid the "performance trap"; where they are doing right behaviors in an effort to please adults (and God). While we want our children to embrace right behaviors, we want them to do it from their heart. For from the heart are the issues of life (Prov. 4: 23). 

Kids & Faith Adventures

In teaching our kids about Jesus, the best lessons come from the experiences we live with them. Saying "yes" to a faith adventure is maybe one of the most significant opportunities for you and your kids to grow and learn about God's goodness in a way that a classroom of Sunday school lessons or evening devotions never can produce. My daughter and I are living that right now.

Last fall, we were given the opportunity & suggestion by our Pastors to consider a ministry trip to Mexico City in the summer of 2013.  My initial response was "No". Not only do I not have a huge desire or sense of calling to serve internationally beyond my role of "sender", but I was in the process of reducing my work hours to part-time and securing other income for our family. On a natural level, it felt like that would take enough of my faith and energy to see my household provided for. Nevertheless, I said I'd pray about it.

Interestingly enough, through prayer I sensed a peace from God that this was an opportunity that I should pursue. So, I went back to our Pastors and said "Yes, we'll go". I wasn't sure how, but decided to follow & trust the peace in my heart.

Natalie & I have had many great moments of prayer, planning and hard work these last few months as we set ourselves to raise the money for the trip.  Many fantastic teachable moments along the way. And many generous donations from friends and family that declares God's favor and blessings to make the way possible.

Best of all is the surprise phone call today. Someone had heard about Natalie's trip and had nominated her for a young person's scholarship. The committee of people had chosen her as the recipient and they'd like to meet with us. "I hope it's okay I nominated her without talking to you in advance," my friend said.  

WHAT?!  That's crazy!  Amazing and awesome!  How cool is God?! So here we go, a complete surprise blessing from an organization we don't even know and we didn't even apply for.  Talk about seeing God at work as only you can when you take a faith adventure with a child. 

Here's a short video from Phil Strout, Vineyard USA Director, and a faith adventure he and his own daughter had years ago.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/b5ayet43g72o5x5/09%20When%20My%20Daughter%20Saved%20Money%20For%20Missions.mov

I encourage you to pray and look for faith adventures with your own children. Big or small they open the door for God to speak into our kid's hearts His love and goodness to them, and prepares them for future lifestyle of faith adventures and saying yes to Jesus.

Where is Jesus nudging your heart for adventure?