MOM & ME DEVOTIONAL: From Podcast Episode #34 (click here) to listen
As moms, it’s never too soon to begin teaching our children about God’s love for them! From singing worship songs over the crib before they can even speak, then we blink and they’re walking and talking. As they grow and develop, our children become like sponges absorbing all that surrounds them—including what they see from us! As they grow older, it’s crucial to pour Jesus into your kids however you can: read them Bible stories, listen to worship music, memorize short scriptures together and simply bringing God into everyday conversations as much as possible. Pastor Adrian Rogers says that “faith is caught as well as taught.” Many times these “God conversations” catch on with your kids as they grow more and more curious about the Lord and why you believe what you say you believe about Him. This often leads to what we will be referring to as “BIG GOD QUESTIONS KIDS ASK”—the deep ones that often catch us parents off guard and often leave you wondering if your answer did the question justice.
Today our “BIG GOD QUESTION” is:
Does God love EVERYONE?…Even “bad people?”
This will be the first of many questions that we ALL—even as grown women rooted in a relationship with Christ—that we still ask sometimes or hesitate in how to best answer when our children ask.
Today’s BIG GOD QUESTION is from my son James, who said it exactly like this: “Mom, I know you say that God loves me, and He loves everyone…But Does God love even bad people?”
James asked me this question the other day in the car riding to pick up his brother, and I could tell he was thinking about something before he asked. He tells me everyday, “Mommy I love you more than anyone….except for God.” Now, James is only 4, and he has not asked Jesus into His heart yet—but still, he understands that God’s love is a BIG deal! That’s catching faith even in the mundane moments of each day—conversations riding in the car, pushing them on a swing, walking down the isle of a grocery store, tucking them into bed at night—wherever you go. Scripture says to tell them, “When you sit and when you rise, when you walk by the way.”
We can’t always know the inner workings of what our child picks up on, processes or ponders—but when they are ready to talk you will know it!—And many times these BIG GOD QUESTIONS come at the most random of moments.
As we begin to unpack this question today, let’s first define what James and most kids would mean by the word “bad”:
We know that really no person, including ourselves, is perfect or without any sin….we ALL mess up! So the phrase “bad people,” likely means people that continually choose to live their life apart from God. Meaning, they aren’t sorry for their sin and they continue to do bad things without asking for forgiveness.
Can God love a person like that? The answer is: Yes he can.
1 John 4:8-10 says:
“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
This verse tells us that God is love. He defines what love really is in His being, therefore loving us unconditionally and perfectly—even knowing that we are all sinners. That is why He sent a perfect Jesus to die for our sins, so we could be forgiven and have new life in Him. This can be hard to understand, but children seem to accept its simplicity yet vastness with such ease and peace. So when Jesus said we must “become like a child” to accept him as Savior, this is a perfect example.
So GOD IS LOVE. A perfect definition for love in the dictionary should have God’s name written beside it.
God loving people is not in question we should be asking—God sees everything and knows everything about us. All the good things we do, He knows and all the bad stuff too. He made us, knows everything about us and yet still chooses to love us.
So the answer to James question is, yes God loves ALL people. However, you must explain to your children that God’s love is a gift and not everyone will choose to accept it and be forgiven.
1 John 4:8 said above: “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
Love is a choice. Following Jesus is a choice. God is what He says He is and that does NOT change, but we must change to follow Jesus and accept His love. We must recognize our sin and our need for Him!
We already defined “bad people” from James question as people that continually choose to live their life apart from God. CHOOSE is the key word here. They have heard of God’s love but aren’t sorry for their sin and make a choice to continue to do bad things and not to accept God’s love and forgiveness.
Jesus told a group in John 5:40,“You refuse to come to me to have life.” Clearly, they could have accepted God’s love if they wanted to; their problem was they chose not to.
In Galatians 6:7 it says, “A man reaps what he sows”— meaning he can reap rewards or reap debt for the life choices he makes. If “bad people” continually refuse God’s love and to live in their sin—they are making the choice to live their life apart from God.
So the answer to our BIG GOD QUESTION today is: YES, God is love and YES, His love is for all people…even “bad people.”
God wants everyone to accept the gift of Jesus and to be forgiven, but we are all given a choice to accept God or reject God. Those who choose to reject God as their maker and creator of the Earth and turn away from accepting His love and forgiveness through Jesus, will spend their life and eternity apart from God.
Encourage your kids that this is why it is our mission on this earth to tell others about the love of Jesus that we have found—so they may hear it too and choose to believe and accept God’s wonderful and perfect love for His people!
Moms—If you have been asked a “BIG GOD QUESTION” by one of your kids lately and are willing to share it, please send it my way so we can share it with other moms!
- Email: mallen@lwf.org
- Leave it in the comments below.
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