SortingBeans

And my daughters hashed some out to me.

The other night, while I was reading bedtime stories to my children, they began to ask me questions about eternity. They know what happens to people when they die if they believe in Jesus, but I have not spent much time explaining the other end to them. I have done this intentionally. My oldest is only six years old. There’s no way I want them focusing on a subject as intense as hell. So, I figured when they would reach a certain age, or when they ask, I would just spill the beans!

They did. They asked. I answered.

“Daddy, what happens to a person if they don’t believe in Jesus?
“Well hun, they don’t get to live with Him forever.”
“Where do they live then?”
“Well hun, they go to a different place, called hell.”

From here I explained to them what hell is and why there is a place such as this. I didn’t get too deep with them, but gave them enough information to know the consequences of both. One of the reasons I have never spent much time on this subject with them is because I want them to be able to respond to Jesus, love and worship Him for the beauty He is, not simply out of fear of going to hell. But this time, I couldn’t get out of it.

I believe in telling my children the truth.

And I believe I should tell them the truth about things whether they make them uncomfortable, OR whether they make ME uncomfortable. Because let me tell you something, I was very uncomfortable telling my little girls the reality of eternal torment. That’s not fun to do. But if I love them, I will be truthful in teaching them.

As a result, both of them said, “I don’t want to go there.” Now, was that simply spawned out of fear? I’m sure there was some fear involved, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Fear is one of our greatest motivators. For instance, you tell your children not to run out into the street because a car can run into them. You tell your child not to put metal objects into an electrical outlet because it could shock them. You tell your child not to touch the stove when it’s hot because it can burn them. All of these things are fear motivators. The child does not do the things because they fear the consequences thereof.

I believe there comes a time when we tell our children the reality of the consequences of rejecting the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

When is that time? I don’t know. I was simply waiting for it to arise in my situation. And it did. And they responded. And I will leave it at that and let God do His thing, even if He uses fear.

My encouragement to you is to tell your children the truth about things when they ask. You don’t have to tell them everything, but tell them the truth as much as they will understand. And when they ask you what happens to a person if they reject Jesus, tell them.



—Jonathan

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