Todays post is written by a blogging friend of mine, Desiré, from When You Rise. Please make her feel welcome!
Legalism has been a stronghold in my life that, until recently, has choked my understanding of the gospel. One of the greatest desires of my heart is for my boys to understand the gospel for the beautiful, undeserved gift that it truly is. And that they will not only know in their heads, but believe with all their hearts that they can do nothing to earn it. Salvation is a gift in its purest form… no strings attached.
One of the most explicit portions of Scripture that portrays this is 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.”
But my oldest is only 3 1/2 years old. So that’s a conversation that should wait for later, right? How in the world could I bring a verse with the words and concepts like grace, faith, saved and “not by works” down to a level he could understand? I tell myself it’s better for him to learn the basic “stories” and save the “theology” for when he’s older. But the Bible says to have “faith like a child” so he must be able to get it on some level… I decided that even if it went right over his head, speaking the truths of the gospel to him certainly couldn’t hurt anything.
But wouldn’t you know, God surprised me with the spiritual sensitivity of a child who has yet to tie a shoe, ride a bike or bathe himself. If you’re interested in what a “deep conversation” with a 3 year old might look like, here’s a peek into what happened:
One day recently while he was playing, he brought out two wooden blocks and fashioned them into a cross shape. He had a small stuffed toy and he said, “Look, Mom! I made a cross and I’m pretending this is Jesus who died on it.” (In case you’re wondering if my kids walk around with halos and turning all their toys into biblical scenes and teachable opportunities, I assure you this was a rare moment and I seized it knowing that there might not be another like it for a while. 
We had been listening to the SEEDS of Faith version of Ephesians 2:8 and had a pretty good grasp on the words to the verse so I began to talk to him about what it meant. He understands that sin is when he does something wrong, so I asked him,
“Hey, when you don’t eat your vegetables and throw a fit, who gets in trouble?”
He pointed to himself.
“What about when you don’t clean up your toys? Does Mommy get in trouble?”
He giggled a little and said, “No.”
Then I said, “But Jesus loved you so much that he said, ‘Isaac, I’ll get in trouble for you.’ Because here’s the deal: Since you sin and since Mommy sins, we can’t go to heaven and live with God someday. That’s not good, is it?”
He shook his head, “No.”
But Jesus said that he would take our punishment and sin away. He did that when he died on the cross. Should he have gotten in trouble for what you did?”
“Uh-uh.”
“You’re right, but he did! And that’s…”
“GRACE!”
My jaw might have dropped a little. I had talked to him several times over the past few days about what grace meant but never in my wildest dreams would I have thought he was getting it. I could have laughed and cried all at the same time!
“Yes!!” I beamed. ”We get something we don’t deserve!”
I had planned a list of activities to do when we did a lesson on this verse, and though I hadn’t expected to do it at this moment, now seemed like the perfect time to talk more about it. So I had him climb up on our coffee table. (My boys always oblige when I tell them to climb on the furniture! ;)
I told him to lean forward and fall on me. He did it once and laughed and I told him to do it again. I moved back a little and this time he was nervous. Too nervous. I had to move forward a little to get him to do it again. I told him to fall on me and that I would catch him. He did and I began to ask him, “Did you think Mommy would let you fall? Did you believe that I was strong enough? Did you trust me to catch you?” He confirmed that he trusted me (at least when I was close enough -haha!) and I said, “Do you know what that’s called?”
“FAITH!”
Once again, humbling and exhilarating. I had thought through these activities ahead of time and was waiting for the right opportunity to use them, but I fully expected to have to tell him the answers to all this. Kids can certainly grasp more than we give them credit for… good and bad…
Finally, I wanted to drive home that he couldn’t do any of this on his own. I got him down from the coffee table and told him to get back up on it, but this time he wasn’t allowed to touch it. He couldn’t use his hands, legs or any part of his body to get on top of the table. I asked him,
“Can you think of a way to get up there without using your body?”
He thought for a minute and said,
“I have an idea! You can put me up there!”
Exactly! I explained that just like he couldn’t get on the table on his own, we can’t get to heaven on our own either. Jesus has to make the way for us. This part went TOTALLY over his head, but I was thankful to have made it this far in the conversation!
We also did a quick, fun project to help convey the idea that salvation is a “gift.” We decorated a cross with dot markers and added the words “GRACE” and “FAITH” to it. We placed them in a bag as a “GIFT” and they gave it to their Daddy when he came home. This gave my him an opportunity to explain what the greatest gift we’ve ever been given is and to review some of the things we had talked about a few days earlier.
None of this was elaborate and I would say the combined total for the conversation and the craft took 25 minutes (aside from listening to the cd of the verse over and over and over again). But I wouldn’t trade those 25 minutes for the world. And it’s a 25 minutes I hope to repeat often as I strive to help my boys understand just how incredible salvation is.
I have to preach the gospel to myself daily so I don’t forget to show it to them. Last fall, I found a beautiful reminder that I wear often. This bracelet from DaySpring with the words “by grace alone” adorns my wrist and sometimes helps me regain perspective at just the right time.
They’ve discontinued the bracelet, but we just happened to have snagged one up before they were gone and we’re giving it to one of you! Just leave a comment below, before midnight on Monday, May 21 and you’ll be automatically entered for the giveaway. We’ll pick a winner sometime on Tuesday, May 22. UPDATE 5/22: The winner of the bracelet is Heather H. Please email Desiré at [email protected] with your address so your bracelet can be shipped to you. Congratulations!
P.S. One of our favorite ways to memorize Scripture is using word cards to accompany verses that are put to music. Here’s a link to the cards pictured in the post above if you’d like to print your own! (You can choose to print just Ephesians 2:8 or Ephesians 2:8-9)
Desiré is a stay at home mom to two precious boys, Isaac (3) and Silas (2). She and her dear friend, Jen, blog at When You Rise about fun ways to teach kids the Bible, as well as some parenting lessons they’re learning along the way. You can also find them on Facebook or Pinterest.
. During school one morning, we read various prayers from Scripture, including those of Daniel, Jeremiah, and Hezekiah. I pointed out to my son various aspects to the prayers and asked if he saw anything different between how he usually prays and their prayers.
