The Christmas Story

The Christmas holiday has been a great time to share with my kids about why Jesus came to earth. Each day in the month of December, we read a different children’s book about the story of Christmas. When I asked the kids why He came to earth one little boy raised his hands and said, “To be our sacrifice.” We talked about how Jesus came to earth to eventually die for our sins. Which is crazy because I have a couple of students who have told me they do not believe in Jesus. One of my Muslim students is quick to remind me that he is not a Christian and does not celebrate Christmas. However, in his Christmas card he gave me on Friday he wrote, “Jesus loves me.” So, my kids are hearing the gospel time after time.

On Thursday, I was helping my middle schoolers with a project they had. They were to compare Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity. We made posters and when we got to Christianity I asked them what made a person a Christian. One said, “Well, at the end of your life if you’ve accomplished a lot I guess you can go to heaven.” Another said, “Well, if you do good things, I guess?” So, I took out the Bible and shared Ephesians 2:8-9 which states that salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done instead it’s a gift. Then I turned to Romans 3:23 that says we all fall short of God’s standards. They were stumped. “I don’t know, I guess” they replied. So, from there I was able to show them Romans 10:9-10 “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.” Truth is, its not a complicated process at all. So, from that we were able to finish our project AND learn about salvation.