Fall Back and Punt
Okay, so sometimes my lesson illustrations leave a little something to be desired. Tonight, I thought I was right on the money. The text tonight was Micah 6:6-8 -
Wherewith shall I come before the LORD,
and bow myself before the high God?
shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves of a year old?
Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
or with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good;
and what doth the LORD require of thee,
but to do justly,
and to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with thy God?
So I needed to define terms some with the girls, and we're discussing what this thing called mercy is. The discussion was pretty lame, but a couple of them had some good ideas. To move things along, I said that mercy is like when you're in big trouble with your mom. You KNOW you've messed up bad this time, and you DESERVE what you know is coming. But instead of punishing you, she comes up and gives you a hug.
Silence and blank stares.
One of the girls piped up with the fact that this wasn't something that was part of her experience. This got a chorus of agreement. That got me wondering where that illustration even came from. Is it something I remember from my own childhood, or something I know I've done with my daughter? I don't really remember. It must be in my heart somewhere in order for it to have come out like that, though.
I pulled it out by saying that if our own mothers have never had mercy on us like that, it's still exactly what God has done for us by sending Jesus Christ. But for a minute there, I was wondering if it were going to be a total loss.
So is this experience so foreign? Has none of us who are mothers ever had mercy on our kids instead of requiring sacrifice? Do none of us who are children have memories of receiving mercy from our parents? If they give us our first picture of what God is like, what does that say about how we view God?
and bow myself before the high God?
shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves of a year old?
Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
or with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good;
and what doth the LORD require of thee,
but to do justly,
and to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with thy God?
So I needed to define terms some with the girls, and we're discussing what this thing called mercy is. The discussion was pretty lame, but a couple of them had some good ideas. To move things along, I said that mercy is like when you're in big trouble with your mom. You KNOW you've messed up bad this time, and you DESERVE what you know is coming. But instead of punishing you, she comes up and gives you a hug.
Silence and blank stares.
One of the girls piped up with the fact that this wasn't something that was part of her experience. This got a chorus of agreement. That got me wondering where that illustration even came from. Is it something I remember from my own childhood, or something I know I've done with my daughter? I don't really remember. It must be in my heart somewhere in order for it to have come out like that, though.
I pulled it out by saying that if our own mothers have never had mercy on us like that, it's still exactly what God has done for us by sending Jesus Christ. But for a minute there, I was wondering if it were going to be a total loss.
So is this experience so foreign? Has none of us who are mothers ever had mercy on our kids instead of requiring sacrifice? Do none of us who are children have memories of receiving mercy from our parents? If they give us our first picture of what God is like, what does that say about how we view God?
posted by bullwinkl at 11:21 PM
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