separated

I am currently reading a book with a friend, called Growing In Christ. (It is e.x.c.e.l.l.e.n.t, if you are looking for a Truth filled book to study with a friend!) Although this book is not written on a child's level, there are several concepts that are so powerful, I knew I wanted to somehow modify the lessons and share them with our children.

I wanted to teach the girls a lesson about grace and the gift we have been given in Christ.

(Because to be completely honest, I didn't understand grace and the gospel until I was in my early twenties. )

We want to share Truth with our children as often as possible. Sometimes, it happens naturally in our every day conversations and other times, I get opportunities to share with activities such as this:

This was a little activity where there were two white squares. One square says 'sinful people, death' and the other square says 'Holy God, eternal life'. I made a little paper doll, and he wanted to get from the 'sin square' to the 'God square'. But how would he get there? (I made him talk and the girls loved it!)

I made three little steps. They said 'good works', 'religion', and 'morality'. I explained that so often, people think that if they are a good person,doing good things for others, they will get to spend eternity in heaven with God.  So the little paper doll always shared his cookie, and he let others ride on the swings first... but it wasn't enough. I talked about how people also think that if they are religious- they attend church often, give some money to the church, etc, they get to spend eternity in heaven with God. The little paper doll  went to church whenever he wasn't too sleepy and he liked to go to the church Easter egg hunt, but he still couldn't reach God! Hmmmmm, the little paper doll thought. If being a good person and being religious isn't  enough, maybe he'd be able to reach God with good morals. The paper doll said, "Hey, I don't hurt people, I don't break toys, I don't lie too much..." But, you guessed it- it's wasn't  enough! We all always fall short of the glory of God!

The ONLY way the little paper doll could get across the gap between the 'sinful man' square to the 'Holy God' square was by the cross. I explained to the girls that we are all sinners and we are separated from our Holy God. We can never ever be a good enough person, attend enough church functions, or have enough morals to ever reach God. It is because of Jesus, who died on the cross and paid the price for our sins, that we have been saved. (Wubs understood all of this but she really enjoyed the illustration. We are so thankful for her salvation! And we are praying for Bella and JJ's relationship with Jesus!)

After we acted out the activity several times (the girls took turns making the little paper doll walk and talk), we read Ephesians 2:8-9. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast."

Below is the activity displayed on our fridge:

ps- If you are reading this and you have any questions... we would love to hear from you! Please email us and I'll provide our contact information. It would be a joy to talk about the gift that Jesus has given to us!
 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast."- Ephesians 2:8-9