Besides, it’s what the Bible in fact teaches. They don’t need the counterfeit gospel of pack-mule-moralism they need the kiss of the Beauty. They see the children in the schoolyard (and they see us at home!). We may believe in the innocence of youth, but our children know better. Our heroes weren’t loved because they were good they were good because they were loved.

How Esther had sex outside of marriage with a non-believer and God loved her and pursued her.How David was a murdering adulterer and God loved him and pursued him.How Joseph was a narcissistic boy and God loved him and pursued him.How Abraham was an idol worshiper and God loved him and pursued him.That his love isn’t vague sentimentality, but it cost him his most precious treasure to turn us into his prized possession that the storyline of the Bible is God’s Search and Rescue mission to find the dying Beast and kiss him into joyous life. Let’s show our kids that God loves us … simply because he loves us. So why do we burden our children with the unbearable load of “being good little boys and girls like the heroes in the Bible”? We wouldn’t load a pack mule with the burdens we place on our children. Any day he might be scarred, and soon he will certainly be a wrinkled old man. If the Beast were loved for his beauty, it would be an unbearable burden. Joy doesn’t come when he’s loved for his beauty joy overwhelms him when he is loved in his hideousness. The Beast isn’t loved because he has changed the Beast is changed when he is loved. The wonder of the gospel is not the love of the beautiful it’s when Beauty kisses the Beast. The message of the gospel-the entire storyline of scripture-is God’s loving pursuit of people who run from him as fast as they can and who live lives unworthy of his love.īut our Sunday school lessons teach us to be good little boys and girls, and God will love us and use us. Is the gospel our central theme, or is it a “PS” tacked onto the end? The gospel storyline Oh, they also create “younger brother” rebels and “older brother” Pharisees. Except that they lie about God, they lie about these “heroes of the faith,” they lie about the Bible, and they lie about the gospel. What’s so bad about these Sunday school lessons? Finally, if we fail to be good, Jesus will forgive us (a “P.S.” tacked onto the end).God made her Queen of Persia and she saved God’s people. David had a pure heart (unlike his brothers), and God made him King of Israel.Joseph was a good little boy (unlike his “bad” brothers), and God made him Prime Minister of Egypt.Abraham was faithful, and God made him the father of a nation.Look at almost any Sunday school curriculum.

Here is how we destroy the gospel message She wondered why he rejected Christianity. I taught him to be like the ‘heroes of faith,’ with the faithfulness of Abraham, the goodness of Joseph, the pure heart of David, and the obedience of Esther.” She said, “I did everything I could to raise him right.

Remind me dear lord connie smith