Sometimes the simplest messages can have the greatest impacts. From teaching preschool Sunday school, I know that some days, the teachings would seem like it was meant for me that day. That’s one of the reasons I love kid’s ministry. It doesn’t look over the basic truths:
Jesus loves you.
You are enough.
God sent his ONLY son to die on the cross for you.
You are forgiven.
One of the first verses you learn in Sunday school, John 3:16. ”For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and ONLY son, that WHOEVER believes in Him, will not perish, but have ETERNAL life.“ The Bible says “whoever” for a reason. Does it say only those who have never lied? Only those who have never been mean or angry? Nope. Jesus accepts everyone and meets them where they are. The broken, the bruised. No matter what you’ve done, Jesus loves you.
During one of the messages, we had time to reflect on our first memory of God. I remembered when before bedtime, around the age of 3-4, my mom would sit with me and sing with me to a sing along picture book. The song was
Jesus loves the little children
All the children of the world
Red, brown, yellow
Black and white
They are precious in His sight
Jesus loves the little children
Of the world
It instilled a truth in me that Jesus loves ALL people, all cultures and of all different backgrounds.
Also, I grew up hearing the story of Zacchaeus. A tax collector, a social outcast, who Jesus has dinner with. The song is:
Zacchaeus was a wee little man
And a wee little man was he
He climbed up in a sycamore tree
For the Lord he wanted to see
And when the Savior passed that way
He looked up in the tree
And said, ‘Zacchaeus, you come down!
For I’m going to your house today!
For I’m going to your house today!’
This taught me that Jesus will sit with the ones who society views as unworthy, for they are enough to Jesus.
But with time and age, people lose sight of these basic truths in their life, including myself.
During the teaching today, we had a speaker, Jennie Means who was teaching us about children’s ministry! In one of the demonstrations she did, she had us ask Jesus to reveal a lie we believe from the enemy.
Let me take you back to this moment with me:
”Jesus, please reveal a lie to me that I’m believing about myself, and help me see Your Truth. “ I scribbled something down in my journal. I‘m scared to even read the words I wrote down because I know it’s true. But I know that Jesus reveals lies to us that are from the enemy so He can remove them and show us what He thinks of us. Jennis asks if anyone would like to share and I feel my stomach turn a little bit. I have a feeling I should, but boy, I don’t want to. I don’t like speaking in front of large groups, especially people my age. One of my squadmates volunteered. Phew. Got out of that one. Jennie asks again if anyone else would like to share. I don‘t feel my hand raise. I don‘t even remember lifting it. But now I have a microphone in my hand and I start to read what I wrote down. “I’m too far gone for anyone to ever love me.” The room falls silent and I feel all eyes on me. It hurts saying it out loud because it’s a lie that I KNOW to be untrue, but I still believe it. I believe that the things I’ve done, are too bad for even Jesus to love me. Jennie starts to cry. And in this moment, I realize how much weight that sentence carries, and how much weight I carry. Jennie starts to speak about Zacchaeus and how nothing you do will ever make Jesus stop loving you and stop wanting a relationship with you. Jesus wanted Zaccheaus, Jesus wants me. The classic Sunday school stories hold truth that outweighs the lies in my life. Jennie asks my squad to pray over me and asks the Lord if there is any scripture that they can remind me of. With no hesitation, several of my friends raise their hands and the truth they speak over me and the scripture they find was truly of the Holy Spirit. Here are the verses I received, Romans 5:5-8, Psalm 135:5-7, Isaiah 43:1-2, and Psalm 103:8-12. It’s so beautiful to see all the love I have from my squadmates and the leadership Team. Karen, my coach, gage me Psalm 103:8-12.
8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
9 He will not constantly accuse us,
nor remain angry forever.
10 He does not punish us for all our sins;
he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
11 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
12 He has removed our sins as far from us
as the east is from the west.
Wow. He has REMOVED our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. East to west, that’s how far. I think there is is a reason why it says east to west and not north to south. Karen brought this up to me. Think about it! There is a north pole and a south pole that determines the start and end. But with east and west it’s continuous, there is no end. His forgiveness is continuous.
Jennie calls me up to the stage and hands me a balloon with a lie written on it, she hands me a nail and I pop it. It feels good popping a balloon, no matter what age. You betcha I stomped on that torn piece of the balloon, because that is below me now. And if I begin to believe that lie again, I will lay that lie down at Jesus’s feet everyday if thats what it takes to believe that my lie is untrue.
So I look back at some basic Sunday school truth‘s that I’m finally beginning to believe again.
Jesus loves me.
I am enough.
God sent his ONLY son to die on the cross for me.
I am forgiven.
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6
