A fifth grader raised her hand in Good News Club with a question.
“My mom tells me I need to confess anything I do wrong to God every night or I won’t go to heaven. Is that right?”
What a loaded question! You could almost hear the GNC team holding their breath and praying for wisdom in answering.
The Bible teacher wanted to answer the question reinforcing the truth …
- It was an opportunity to establish the child’s salvation through receiving Christ (John 1:12) and to teach 1 John 1:9 on confessing sin as the Holy Spirit identifies it in your life. “Confess… every night” to maintain fellowship with God would be a good discipline.
- “Won’t go to heaven” needs correction through the truth of the Bible.
“…by grace you have been saved through faith…it is the gift of God, not a result of works.”
Ephesians 2:8,9Hebrews 10:10 teaches Jesus died once for ALL our sin.
Ephesians 1:13 reveals believers are sealed by the Holy Spirit, who lives within as God’s promise of a place in Heaven.
The idea of not going to heaven for not doing good works is untrue and must be corrected. Salvation is based on the work of Jesus Christ paying for all sin on the cross and eternal life is received by placing trust in Christ as savior.
The teacher handled it well, speaking truth while not specifically answering the question:
“Is my mom right or wrong?”
Scripture was used to reinforce that the mom was right on the first part while speaking truth into the second part. It is a privilege as a CEF worker to answer children’s hard questions with the power and truth of the Bible!
The girl’s question made us stop and think – how are we living out these truths? Are we depending on our actions (attending church, doing daily devotions) to secure a place in Heaven or believing and trusting in God’s provided sacrifice ALONE? This is a life and death question!
Good News Clubs are a place to proclaim the Good News of Jesus’ sacrifice that does away with our striving to be good enough. God’s desired response to who Jesus is and what He has done – turn from sin, believe and receive new life! That is what we celebrated on Easter Sunday this month.
That was a very insightful question from a spiritually sensitive young lady. We are trusting God to show her the whole truth as she continues to seek Him. May she fall in His arms and know the peace that comes only from surrender to our gentle Savior.
Will you join us in praying that the children in our Peninsula after-school Good News Clubs who hear the truth each week will respond in faith? On our website, you can sign up to pray for a specific club or to receive monthly CEF Peninsula requests.
