Real Talk

I love my job. I love my students. I love my kids here at Good Shepherd Children's Home.

I have been here for 5 months now, and my time for this year is halfway over. That is crazy to me!  As I look back on the past 5 months, I am content. The Lord has grown me and shown me His purpose for me. I feel useful to His Kingdom here at the home and at the school. 

I have had some amazing conversations with some of the girls about their faith, and I have talked with them about some hard questions.  I know that nothing in their hearts will change because of me. I am a Seed-Planter and a Seed-Waterer. God is the Seed-Grower. 

Can I get an amen?

I am content with how the first half of the year has gone.  But I am also evaluating my time and my efforts, and I know that I can do better.

I have been obedient in many of the things God has called me to, but I know that I can be obedient in so much more.

While I am here as a full-time teacher, my ultimate purpose on this earth is not to teach Music and English. It is to teach about the redeeming power of Jesus Christ.  Because I love them and desire the best for their lives here on Earth, I want them to have a great education -- and I hope that I can provide a well-rounded education for them in Music and English classes.  

 But I want more for them.  I want to prepare them for eternity, too.  I want to help them grow in their relationship with their Savior Jesus, because that is what will stick with them long after I am gone.

Yesterday, as I sat outside Casita 3 with some of the teenage girls I love, I started a conversation.

“I will give someone a Coke if you can tell me the Gospel.”

“What?” They asked, smirking.

“Do you know the Gospel?” I asked them. “If you can tell it to me, I will give you a Coke.” I replied.

Each girl promptly began her best attempts to win the contest. Each answer contained truths, but incomplete truths. 

One girl said, “The Gospel is when you tell others about Jesus.” Yes, I replied, but what IS the gospel that you tell them?

“It is that you give your life to God and he saves you.” Yes, but how?

“The Gospel is that Jesus died for us.” Yes! But why did Jesus have to die?

All of their answers were so familiar to me, because I used to be in their shoes. I knew a lot about Jesus and about the Gospel. But I had no clue how to present it to someone else. 

Once we had established that none of the girls could give me a complete presentation of the gospel, I asked them another question – still offering a Coke to whomever could tell me the answer.

The Question: Why did Jesus have to die?

(This is a question that I didn't understand for a long time, so I wanted to know if they understood.)

“To save us!” Yes, but why did he have to die to do that?

“God said he had to die.” Yes, but why? What was the purpose?

“So we could go to heaven.” Ok, but why did Jesus have to die for us to go to heaven?

Oh, how I sympathized with them! I could feel their curiosity growing as they searched their brains for an answer. Finally, on Yolanda's umpteenth try, she said:

“Well, in the ancient times, the Israelites had to kill lambs to wash their sins away. But now we don't have to do that, because Jesus came.”

She came the closest to a full answer, so I gave her a high five and told her she'd won the Coke.

Then I told the girls the Gospel.

We are sinners. Every one of us. There is no one that can say “I have never sinned.”

(Actually, one of the girls tried to tell me that she never sins. I promptly reminded her that she had lied to me just that morning.)

We lie; We treat others badly – whether in deed or in heart; We are prideful, we are selfish, we are rude. So often we want nothing to do with God. Because we are sinners.

And our sin deserves death.  (As I tried to quote Romans 6:23 “The wages of sin is death” to them in my imperfect Spanish, I accidentally said, “The glue of sin is death.” That gave us all a laugh. Then I moved on.)

Something has to die for our sin – something has to pay the penalty, and it should be us! The Israelites had to kill animals for their sins, yes. But it still wasn't enough. They were counted righteous by their faith.

But here's what happened. God sent Jesus, His son. Wholly God and wholly man, all at the same time. He never sinned, but he gave his life as the final sacrifice for all of us sinners so that whoever believes in him and puts their faith in him will have eternal life. We get to wear His righteousness, so that God looks at us on Judgement day and sees His Son.

Jesus died. For you, for me.

Then guess what? He rose to freaking life again! Why? Because he is God – and he lives for us, Interceding on our behalf before our Father in heaven. What a Savior.

I am leading a Bible Study on Friday with the older girls to answer their questions about the Gospel and to help make it more clear to them. I see myself in their confusion. I grew up being told about Jesus, and so did they. But like most of them, the Gospel didn't become real and personal until I was in high school and college. God used some special people during that time of my life to speak God's Word into my heart, and I pray that I can bring some of that clarity into their lives.  This is discipleship.