Yesterday’s article was pretty heavy on top of being a fairly long read. Today I’d like to go a bit lighter and share a moment of theology we had with my 11-year-old daughter, Emma, and why it encouraged me as her father.
We are enrolled in a church homeschool program where kids can go and learn things like choir, drama, gym, and other subjects that benefit from a group. In her speech class, they are doing a warmup speech where they are sharing some of their favorite things, as well as a Bible verse they enjoy. I was a bit surprised to hear her verse.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
(Romans 3:23)
It’s not quite the Sunday School answer of John 3:16, but I suspected she had just chosen an easy verse she’d heard often, rather than one she actually thought through. I pressed her on the verse, asking why she enjoyed that particular one.
“Well, I like it because no one is better than someone else. No one deserves their salvation because we’re all equal in sin.”
And that was a proud dad moment.
As parents who are redeemed by the blood of Christ, we talk to our kids about God and discuss theology at their level, yet we often have no idea how much of it sticks. Perhaps she’d heard this elsewhere, but I know I’ve never pointed that out to her since our discussions on equality center around Galatians 3:28 and James 2:1-12.
As I reflect on it, I’m impressed at how she phrased it. I try to teach my family the importance of treating God’s word as something objective, rather than letting our emotions interpret what we feel it means. Her understanding of it didn’t come from the position of “this is what it means to me.” Instead, she touched on a minor aspect of the verse which, at that time, stood out to her most.
Does the verse teach that everyone is equal? Not necessarily, no. However, there is certainly an implication that there is nothing about us that is special. Being a member of Israel wasn’t enough to get favor with God. Keeping certain laws couldn’t lessen God’s wrath over our sin. No amount of good living would amount to anything before a holy God.
All of us are equally wretched, and all of us are in equal need of Jesus Christ. Nothing we’ve done has made us more worthy of salvation. In fact, the more we learn about God the more we realize just how unworthy we truly are of something so marvelous!
That biblical truth was encouraging to hear, as we can so easily forget how far Jesus Christ has brought us from our old nature. It’s easy for me to take grace for granted, and to forget just how much of my new life is a result of the Holy Spirit dwelling inside me. Even my love and passion for Christ isn’t something I can attribute to myself, but must remember that even that is a gift from God.
What a beautiful truth to be reminded of. And it came from someone I’ve spent 11 years discipling, training, and challenging through the Bible. It was such a wonderful moment to see God’s truths take root in my daughter’s heart.
