(Kevin and Jason)
"Never underestimate the faith of children." This is one lesson that I learned recently. A week ago, I was having snack time with my students when suddenly Jason asked me a very strange question, "Miss, are there really 13 gods in heaven?". I didn't have any clue to what he meant so I asked him to explain his question. So he reminded me about the time when I told them the Christmas story.
A day before our school's Christmas celebration, I felt a deep prompting in my heart to share the gospel to my students. I wanted them to celebrate Christmas with an understanding of the reason why we celebrate the seasomn. As I was starting to tell them about Jesus, I felt like I was supposed to give them a brief summary of the whole Bible. So, I started with the creation of the Earth, and the creation of Adam and Eve. I ended my story with the Resurrection of Jesus. It was so hard to just tell them the story of Christmas. It was so much fun telling them all those stories in the Bible. After telling them the story, I "forced" them to fold their hands and close their eyes and pray the Salvation Prayer with me. So all 13 of my students prayed with me. Then, I told them that Jesus was now in their hearts. I said this without any conviction in my heart because I didn't really think that they could be sincere in their prayer at this age. I knew that they only wanted to please me so they were "forced" to do what I told them to. After praying with them, I put the whole thing to the back of my mind. I was relieved because finally, I was done with the job of sharing the gospel to them. For me, my job was to just plant a seed in their hearts. I didn't really expect them to understand and accept all that I said now. After all, they're still 6 years old. I know that one day, when they're already big enough to understand, God's going to cause the seed of His Word grow.
God had to rebuke me for my lack of faith. I shared the gospel without expecting anything to happen. But as Jason explained to me this, "Didn't we pray in December for Jesus to come into our hearts? So there must be 13 gods in heaven because all of us prayed and asked him to come into our hearts?", I was stunned in disbelief. It was an eye opener for me and a rebuke at the same time. The children were indeed serious in their prayer and they really expected God to come into their hearts. I was the one who had no faith.
I've learned 2 things from this experience:
1. We can learn a lot from children. Their lives are so simple. Everything for them is simple. But they have such great faith. For them, God is so reliable that they know that if God says He will do something then they will believe that He will. We have so much to learn from the "little ones".
2. God's Word will never go back to Him empty. (Isaiah 55) Whenever, we share the gospel we shouldn't feel bad if we don't see any result. In the heavenlies, something grand is happening. We should then be faithful in declaring God's word wherever we go because our efforts will never be in vain.
After getting over my surprise, shock and disbelief, Jason continued to barrage me with more questions. I explained about God's power and how He can be in many places at one time. Since our snack time was coming to an end, I didn't have much time to answer all their questions. So I just told everybody in my class that someday we will all go to heaven and see God. Then we can ask Him all the questions that we have in our mind. After saying all these, one student just piped in and said, "When?". I just looked at him and laughed and said, "Only God knows."
A day before our school's Christmas celebration, I felt a deep prompting in my heart to share the gospel to my students. I wanted them to celebrate Christmas with an understanding of the reason why we celebrate the seasomn. As I was starting to tell them about Jesus, I felt like I was supposed to give them a brief summary of the whole Bible. So, I started with the creation of the Earth, and the creation of Adam and Eve. I ended my story with the Resurrection of Jesus. It was so hard to just tell them the story of Christmas. It was so much fun telling them all those stories in the Bible. After telling them the story, I "forced" them to fold their hands and close their eyes and pray the Salvation Prayer with me. So all 13 of my students prayed with me. Then, I told them that Jesus was now in their hearts. I said this without any conviction in my heart because I didn't really think that they could be sincere in their prayer at this age. I knew that they only wanted to please me so they were "forced" to do what I told them to. After praying with them, I put the whole thing to the back of my mind. I was relieved because finally, I was done with the job of sharing the gospel to them. For me, my job was to just plant a seed in their hearts. I didn't really expect them to understand and accept all that I said now. After all, they're still 6 years old. I know that one day, when they're already big enough to understand, God's going to cause the seed of His Word grow.
God had to rebuke me for my lack of faith. I shared the gospel without expecting anything to happen. But as Jason explained to me this, "Didn't we pray in December for Jesus to come into our hearts? So there must be 13 gods in heaven because all of us prayed and asked him to come into our hearts?", I was stunned in disbelief. It was an eye opener for me and a rebuke at the same time. The children were indeed serious in their prayer and they really expected God to come into their hearts. I was the one who had no faith.
I've learned 2 things from this experience:
1. We can learn a lot from children. Their lives are so simple. Everything for them is simple. But they have such great faith. For them, God is so reliable that they know that if God says He will do something then they will believe that He will. We have so much to learn from the "little ones".
2. God's Word will never go back to Him empty. (Isaiah 55) Whenever, we share the gospel we shouldn't feel bad if we don't see any result. In the heavenlies, something grand is happening. We should then be faithful in declaring God's word wherever we go because our efforts will never be in vain.
After getting over my surprise, shock and disbelief, Jason continued to barrage me with more questions. I explained about God's power and how He can be in many places at one time. Since our snack time was coming to an end, I didn't have much time to answer all their questions. So I just told everybody in my class that someday we will all go to heaven and see God. Then we can ask Him all the questions that we have in our mind. After saying all these, one student just piped in and said, "When?". I just looked at him and laughed and said, "Only God knows."
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