Art Linkletter once entertained the masses with his show titled “Kids Say the Darndest Things”. Back in the day, I snickered along with everyone else. But nowadays, with grandsons of my own, I really appreciate the subject.
For instance, as we passed over a bridge spanning the lake near our house, one of my grandsons noticed a river barge tied up at a nearby dock, and called our attention to the “aircraft carrier” down below us.
Not to be outdone, his cousin, who has just started pre-k this year, happened up on his mother putting on deodorant (apparently in a green container) and asked: “What’s that do? Turn you into the Hulk?” His brother chimed in, saying: “No! Only Gatorade and Dr. Pepper turn you into the Hulk!”
My daughter and two daughters-in-law have accumulated journals full of such gems. I hope they will consider collaborating and publishing them some day.
But the best came from another grandson, who recently started kindergarten. He was watching a nature show on television, and suddenly blurted out: “Jesus tells snakes what to do.” His mom (my daughter) responded by saying, “Yes, Jesus is in charge of everything.”
He then asked: “What happens when you don’t obey Jesus?” Her reply was: “That’s called sin.” To which he responded: “Yeah, I already know that’s venomous.” “Yeah, mom has to ask forgiveness a lot,” she said, “and we can ask God to forgive us and give us a new heart.”
What came next was priceless. He thought about it a minute, and said “Yeah, take the venomous away!”
Wow! Talk about truth coming “out of the mouth of babes!” In that one conversation, he grasped and verbally summarized the most fundamental of all Biblical assertions. And what is that assertion?
It is that the old serpent injected the poison of sin into the lives of Adam and Eve and all of us as their descendants in Genesis chapter 3, but that this poison has been undone by Jesus as recorded in John chapter 3, which tells us that “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him would not perish, but have eternal life”!
A theology professor of mine once said that the message of the Gospel is so profound that the greatest of human minds can never fully grasp its fullness; yet it is so simple that even a child can understand it!
Thankfully, we don’t have to understand every single theological component of our blessed redemption; we just have to believe the simple message of the Gospel, and accept Jesus for our personal Savior.
Little wonder that Jesus told us unless we become as little children, we can in no wise enter into the kingdom of Heaven! In childlike faith, we believe. In childlike obedience, we confess this. And as we do, we meet God’s requirement of us.
What more need be said?!
SCRIPTURE SOURCES:
https://biblehub.com/john/3-16.htm;
https://www.biblehub.com/matthew/18-3.htm.
For instance, as we passed over a bridge spanning the lake near our house, one of my grandsons noticed a river barge tied up at a nearby dock, and called our attention to the “aircraft carrier” down below us.
Not to be outdone, his cousin, who has just started pre-k this year, happened up on his mother putting on deodorant (apparently in a green container) and asked: “What’s that do? Turn you into the Hulk?” His brother chimed in, saying: “No! Only Gatorade and Dr. Pepper turn you into the Hulk!”
My daughter and two daughters-in-law have accumulated journals full of such gems. I hope they will consider collaborating and publishing them some day.
But the best came from another grandson, who recently started kindergarten. He was watching a nature show on television, and suddenly blurted out: “Jesus tells snakes what to do.” His mom (my daughter) responded by saying, “Yes, Jesus is in charge of everything.”
He then asked: “What happens when you don’t obey Jesus?” Her reply was: “That’s called sin.” To which he responded: “Yeah, I already know that’s venomous.” “Yeah, mom has to ask forgiveness a lot,” she said, “and we can ask God to forgive us and give us a new heart.”
What came next was priceless. He thought about it a minute, and said “Yeah, take the venomous away!”
Wow! Talk about truth coming “out of the mouth of babes!” In that one conversation, he grasped and verbally summarized the most fundamental of all Biblical assertions. And what is that assertion?
It is that the old serpent injected the poison of sin into the lives of Adam and Eve and all of us as their descendants in Genesis chapter 3, but that this poison has been undone by Jesus as recorded in John chapter 3, which tells us that “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him would not perish, but have eternal life”!
A theology professor of mine once said that the message of the Gospel is so profound that the greatest of human minds can never fully grasp its fullness; yet it is so simple that even a child can understand it!
Thankfully, we don’t have to understand every single theological component of our blessed redemption; we just have to believe the simple message of the Gospel, and accept Jesus for our personal Savior.
Little wonder that Jesus told us unless we become as little children, we can in no wise enter into the kingdom of Heaven! In childlike faith, we believe. In childlike obedience, we confess this. And as we do, we meet God’s requirement of us.
What more need be said?!
SCRIPTURE SOURCES:
https://biblehub.com/john/3-16.htm;
https://www.biblehub.com/matthew/18-3.htm.