“Mom, do you know the story of Sam?” my 4yr old asked. I wasn’t sure that I did, so I asked him to tell me. “It’s the story of how Jesus went into the wilderness for 40 days. And Jesus was hungry and Sam told him to turn rocks into bread and Jesus said, NO. And then Sam took Jesus to a super tall building and told him to fall off and the angels would save him and Jesus said, NO. And then Sam tells Jesus to look all around and he will give him everything he sees, if he will worship him and Jesus said, NO. And then the angels came and took care of Jesus.” He was referring to Matthew 4:1-11
I’ve been reading, Praying for Boys by Brooke McGlothlin and starting to pray much more intentionally for my son. As she says, “Asking God for the things they need most.” And it dawns on me, Matthew 4:1-11, these are great verses to pray over my son, prayers that he will resist temptations and “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.” I love little ah ha moments after praying specifically for something.
“You mean Satan?” I asked. Which he quickly agreed, “Yes, that was who was tempting Jesus.” And then a tidal wave of questions erupted. Who was Satan? Why was he tempting Jesus? Is Satan in this world like Jesus? What does Hell mean? Is Satan in my body? Where did Satan come from? Is Satan really on fire? Why is he on fire in the picture I saw? Why does Satan try to tempt me?
As much as I’d like to shelter him, focus on how great heaven will be, avoid talking about scary things, keep him in a world full of childhood bliss, the reality is we live in a broken world and he has a lot of real life questions. As I searched for the answers and tried to explain concepts that are solid in my mind, I heard words coming out of my mouth that made me wonder, if I was a first time believer, would I buy into this? Dear Lord, help and guide me.
I know in my heart, body, and soul that the Bible is the truth, but explaining it to a literal black and white type of child, it’s hard to explain in words why I believe so strongly. Like explaining for the first time about asking Jesus into our hearts and then explaining why I didn’t mean Jesus would literally be in our blood, and yes our heart is full of blood, and well yes that sounds kinda gross when you think of it that way, and no, that’s not what I meant. If I can learn to explain faith to my four year old, then perhaps I’ll be better equipped to share it with the world.
Dear Heavenly Father,
We love you with our heart, body, and soul. Lord we pray that when we explain our faith to others, that you would use our words and allow others to hear your voice in us. We live in a broken world and people need to hear your message. Take away any fears of inadequacy and replace them with love, because your perfect love expels all fear.
Amen
Jessica Lynn 