Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Some of you may have already read this on Facebook, but here is the conversation between Jeremy and Sam yesterday on his way home from school.

"We were on the way home from school today when Samuel asked me to roll up the windows. After I did, he asked me, "Dad? Why did Jesus die for our sins?" That's a great question, but one I hardly expected from my almost five year old.

I explained as simply as I could that God wants us to live forever with him in heaven, but that we are supposed to be perfect first. I explained to him that we all mess up, and that no one is perfect. We gave some examples of his disobedience and treatment of his sisters. He agreed that he messed up sometimes. So I told him that Jesus died for our sins so that we could go to heaven to live with God.

I went on to explain in child-like terms that if we let Jesus live in our hearts, then we can also go to heaven and Jesus will help us live the best we can. I asked Samuel if he knew what "live in our hearts" meant. Samuel explained to me that Jesus living in his heart meant that he messed up sometimes and needed Jesus to help him. It was at this point that I realized this might be over his head, but at least the seed was taking root. I told him that when he was ready, he could also ask Jesus to live in his heart.

At this point, Samuel just started screaming, "Jesus, do want to live in my heart?" over and over again. With tears in my eyes, I asked Samuel why he wanted Jesus to live in his heart. He told me it was because he wanted to live with God forever in heaven.

So my four year old began praying by himself.

"Dear God. Would you live in my heart, please? Because I mess up a little, and I'm a bad boy a little, and I want to live in heaven with you forever."

I'm not sure what that does for your theology. I call it child-like faith.

As Samuel began calling our parents and telling them, his version shortened to something like this: "Hey, I asked God to live in my heart. And he said, 'Yes!'"