My last post focused on death and the importance of knowing about what it really is. I thought came to me after I wrote it. If we are constantly told our entire lives that death is awful, or wrong, or morbid, and what not. How then, when it does happen to a loved one, are we supposed to cope with it in a healthy way?
When the topic of death comes up, most people automatically go for the, "They are in heaven." approach. But do most kids even really know what heaven is? And by lumping in all the people we have ever seen die into the category, doesn't effectively show our children how important giving your life to Christ is.
Of course heaven is a wonderful place. There is no more pain, and sickness. We are fully restored to our perfect health. We leave our decrepit earthly bodies, and go to a place where they will no longer burden us, that's why it is important to keep our spirit right. Well fed, and maintained, because our spirit is what is going to be showing for eternity.
Heaven... It should be exciting! We get to sit around and hang out with Jesus... WITH JESUS! in all of his glory. We get to meet the creator of ALL things. Its a wonderful, beautiful place filled with happiness and joy. I imagine, that it feels like that feeling you get when the Holy Spirit is heavily on you. Your heart beats faster and your body feels like its weighing you down... I can't describe it. I know that it is like getting high, but better. I imagine that is what it feels like to be in heaven only intensified by 90 million! IT WILL BE AWESOME!
For those of us who get there. Its easy to explain to a child the glories of heaven, but do we take the time to explain, how we get there. It says in the bible that the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ. John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. TO accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Ruler of your life. To recognize that you are a sinner, and that you need saving. And then to dedicate your life to doing God's will, to becoming more like Christ, and to spread the gospel like Wild Fire. That is the only way to heaven, and at some point our kids need to understand, that even though we love some of the people who die, they aren't going to go to heaven.
Some would say that telling a four year old, or seven year old, that their grandmother may not go to heaven is harsh, but once again, I would like to point out that I don't believe lying to them is going to do them any good. If we let them believe that everyone goes to heaven, we might as well tell them that we don't need Jesus to get there. We don't need to live right to get there. We might as well tell them, that living for Satan is ok! But it's not. Now I don't think everyone should just blurt out, "That guy is going to hell for sure!" I mean it isn't for us to know who gets in. But maybe saying, "I don't know if they are in heaven, Only God knows what was truly in there heart, hopefully Jesus Christ was." Or something along those lines.
If everything was good all the time, how would we ever recognize it. We wouldn't. We would take advantage of the good, and we wouldn't appreciate it. And then if it ever did get bad, (and in real life it does, even for a Christian) how would we know how to handle that situation? The same theory goes for heaven. If we only expect heaven and eternal life, how can we work to not go to hell? We wouldn't even acknowledge hell.l I don't about you, but to me, it doesn't sound like we would have a fighting chance. So if you are going to discuss heaven, shouldn't we then discuss hell, and the difference between the two. Why we want to do the things we need to in order to get into heaven? I think the answer is simple: Yes....
To be continued...
When the topic of death comes up, most people automatically go for the, "They are in heaven." approach. But do most kids even really know what heaven is? And by lumping in all the people we have ever seen die into the category, doesn't effectively show our children how important giving your life to Christ is.
Of course heaven is a wonderful place. There is no more pain, and sickness. We are fully restored to our perfect health. We leave our decrepit earthly bodies, and go to a place where they will no longer burden us, that's why it is important to keep our spirit right. Well fed, and maintained, because our spirit is what is going to be showing for eternity.
Heaven... It should be exciting! We get to sit around and hang out with Jesus... WITH JESUS! in all of his glory. We get to meet the creator of ALL things. Its a wonderful, beautiful place filled with happiness and joy. I imagine, that it feels like that feeling you get when the Holy Spirit is heavily on you. Your heart beats faster and your body feels like its weighing you down... I can't describe it. I know that it is like getting high, but better. I imagine that is what it feels like to be in heaven only intensified by 90 million! IT WILL BE AWESOME!
For those of us who get there. Its easy to explain to a child the glories of heaven, but do we take the time to explain, how we get there. It says in the bible that the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ. John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. TO accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Ruler of your life. To recognize that you are a sinner, and that you need saving. And then to dedicate your life to doing God's will, to becoming more like Christ, and to spread the gospel like Wild Fire. That is the only way to heaven, and at some point our kids need to understand, that even though we love some of the people who die, they aren't going to go to heaven.
Some would say that telling a four year old, or seven year old, that their grandmother may not go to heaven is harsh, but once again, I would like to point out that I don't believe lying to them is going to do them any good. If we let them believe that everyone goes to heaven, we might as well tell them that we don't need Jesus to get there. We don't need to live right to get there. We might as well tell them, that living for Satan is ok! But it's not. Now I don't think everyone should just blurt out, "That guy is going to hell for sure!" I mean it isn't for us to know who gets in. But maybe saying, "I don't know if they are in heaven, Only God knows what was truly in there heart, hopefully Jesus Christ was." Or something along those lines.
If everything was good all the time, how would we ever recognize it. We wouldn't. We would take advantage of the good, and we wouldn't appreciate it. And then if it ever did get bad, (and in real life it does, even for a Christian) how would we know how to handle that situation? The same theory goes for heaven. If we only expect heaven and eternal life, how can we work to not go to hell? We wouldn't even acknowledge hell.l I don't about you, but to me, it doesn't sound like we would have a fighting chance. So if you are going to discuss heaven, shouldn't we then discuss hell, and the difference between the two. Why we want to do the things we need to in order to get into heaven? I think the answer is simple: Yes....
To be continued...
"And by lumping in all the people we have ever seen die into the category, doesn't effectively show our children how important giving your life to Christ is."
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Liz! I look forward to reading what you have next.