Grace

My God has shown me plenty of grace and mercy. He gave his son, Jesus, to die for my sins. He forgives me time and again even though I am not worthy. I am righteous, right with God, because of the sacrifice of Jesus. God gave us this gift because He loves us so much.

[F]or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:23-24

I have my Pharisee days from time to time. Even though I have been shown grace by my awesome God, I have trouble showing grace to my family. I read in The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Timothy Keller that a Pharisee is a person who is “trusting in your own goodness rather than in Jesus for your standing with God.” (Keller, p. 177) Instead of being humble knowing that I am saved by grace alone, I try doing works thinking that it is going to earn me points with God. I want to save myself by following Jesus’ example rather than being saved by Jesus. I’ve got it backwards in my head thinking that the law is what saves me not that being saved causes me to follow the law

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. Romans 3:20

The law only points out that I am truly a sinner. Seeing my sin should motivate me to follow the law and remind me that the gift of Jesus is incredible. As I ponder all of this, I can’t help but think about the lyrics to a Veggie Tales song - Stop! And Go with Mercy. Listening to the song with my kids reminds me that seeing my sin should help me to forgive others and give them another chance - basically show everyone, especially my family, a little grace and ultimately show them how much I truly love them.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31

It’s my job to teach my children to love God and their neighbor. I need to lead by example to show them how to love others. One way to express your love is to show others some grace since we all fall short of the glory of God. My life and relationship with my children gives them a tiny glimpse of what to expect from their awesome God. He shows grace and mercy to us all who accept it, and He loves them more than they will ever know.

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Sharing the Gospel with Drama

A drama of the song Everything by Lifehouse

Have you wondered how to share the Gospel better with your children in your home school? Do you struggle with how to make really big ideas more meaningful and understandable for your kids? Many Christian homeschoolers want to do a better job with this very thing. I know that I do. Then I saw this drama done to the song Everything by Lifehouse, and it struck me that I can use this kind of tool with my children.

This drama brought me to tears! It completely encapsulates the whole of the good news. It embodies the struggle that I know that I have between wanting worldly things and needing spiritual things. I forget that Jesus us my savior sometimes, and this is such an amazing way of showing what that really means. I love the part where Jesus is shielding the girl from sin and bearing the burden for her. What an amazing visual!

As a homeschooling mom, I have struggled with how to share some of the big concepts in the Bible. Ideas like salvation and sin are really difficult for young kids to grasp, and my kids ask questions that get at the heart of these concepts. My sweet child sounded just like Paul when she described her struggle with sin. She told me that God wants her to what is right, but sometimes she can’t do it even though she wants to do it. Paul tells us:

For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Romans 7:19

The idea is right there for her. Since she is already thinking about these ideas, I want to give her something concrete to make sense of it all, and a drama similar to this in a more age-appropriate format would be helpful. The lyrics to the song are simple, but truly amazing, and I would definitely use it with the drama. You can find the lyrics at MetroLyrics. Maybe a multisensory approach to sharing the Gospel will bring my daughter closer to accepting Christ! That is truly awesome to me!

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