There are some conversations I never want to forget. And after this particularly rough morning, this God-given illustration is one of them:
Me: "If I didn't discipline you for your sin, I would not be loving on you."
Brielle: "I don't understand that, because it's so hard!"
Me: "I know. But I love you so much I can't stand the idea of sin controlling you like we read in Genesis."
Brielle: "I don't know what that means."
Me: "Do you remember reading that together?"
Brielle: "Yes, but I don't know what that means."
Me: "Okay. Let's read it together again."
Together: "... sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it." Genesis 4:7*
After we read it we talked about the meanings of crouching and desire. To illustrate this idea I used a stuffed animal to pretend it was sin and stuffed it in our front door.
Me: "Let's pretend this stuffed animal is sin. Sin is crouching at our door, what does the Bible say it's wanting to do?"
Brielle: "Devour me."
Me: "Yes, devour you. Do you know what devour means?"
She didn't,
Me: "It means to eat up, so it wants to eat you up. What else does God say about sin?"
(We went back and reread Genesis 4:7, "... but you must rule over it.")
Me: (Then we talked about what it means to rule over something.) "So you need something to defeat it. So what are you going to use?" (So we went and got a weapon. She picked her toy bow and arrow.)
Me: "Okay, so this bow and arrow - if you rule over sin - will defeat it."
So I pretended that the bow and arrow was my tool to defeat sin by I shooting arrows at sin and began to beat it with the bow, which made her laugh until... she noticed that I had the bow and arrow upside down, AND then she was in tears again (insert eye-rolling emoji here).
Me: "Are you in control over your emotions or are you letting your emotions control you?"
Brielle: "I'm letting my emotions control me."
Me: "Do you understand that is sin? Sin wants to control you (I showed her Genesis 4:7 again) and you are letting it control you rather than ruling over it."
Me: "What tools do we have to help us 'rule over it'?"
Brielle: "Take a deep breath and pray?"
Me: "Yes, pray and Who lives inside of you?"
Brielle: "The Holy Spirit?"
Me: "Yes, and what does the Holy Spirit bring to mind?"
Brielle: "Uh, His Word?"
Me: "Yup. Ask the Holy Spirit for help. Those are your tools honey."
She was in deep, deep thought at this point, so I drove the point home.
Me: "Also, do you have the power to rule over sin all by yourself?"
Brielle: "No."
Me: "Nope. Who do you need?"
Brielle: "God."
Me: "Yes, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that lives in you and is the same power that will help you defeat sin. Most importantly, He always wins!"
(I let this soak in for a little bit, because even though she's heard it a million times I could tell that God was working on this one...)
Me: "... and we have God's Word and God's Word says that we have power over sin because we have who?"
Brielle: "Jesus!"
Me: "Yup. Because Jesus died on the cross for our sin, was buried, and rose again we have the Holy Spirit, who is God, revealing to us His Word and the truth in it. The truth is that we can defeat sin. Do you believe that God has the power to defeat sin?"
Brielle: "Yes."
Me: "Do you believe that God will answer your prayer when you ask for help?"
Brielle: "Yes."
At this point I'm all giddy on the inside because I could tell God was turning on the light bulb!
Me: "So would it be loving for mommy to let you continue in sin and let it conquer you?"
Brielle: a resounding, "NO!"
Me: "Yes! I love you too much to let you continue in sin. My job is to help you and point you back to Jesus, because the reality is that sin is no more powerful than that stuffed animal in relation to Jesus Christ. When we have Jesus we can conquer sin. And when we fail at conquering sin, we still have Jesus."
It was at this point that my five year old took an enormous deep breath, closed her eyes and let out a chuckle as she exhaled. She let it go and let God help her. In her weakness, God was made big and powerful.
And I got goosebumps.
There is one more thing I want my children to understand about sin. Sin does not define us. It does not make us who we are. According to the way God talks about sin in Genesis 4:7, it is a separate entity - a noun, a thing - that desires to conquer our soul. But God has given us hope: Himself. Only the God of the universe has the ability to perfectly overcome sin. Since He gave Himself - by dying on the cross for our sin, being buried and defeating death by rising again - those who believe in Him also have the power to defeat sin. That is so relieving knowing that we can't do it apart from Him and that He has promised to never leave us or forsake us. Also, how awesome is it, that in our weakness He is glorified! We honor Him when we rely on Him.
Therefore, rely on Him to rule over sin. He will win.
*Different translations: "[Sin is] eager to control you."NLT
Me: "If I didn't discipline you for your sin, I would not be loving on you."
Brielle: "I don't understand that, because it's so hard!"
Me: "I know. But I love you so much I can't stand the idea of sin controlling you like we read in Genesis."
Brielle: "I don't know what that means."
Me: "Do you remember reading that together?"
Brielle: "Yes, but I don't know what that means."
Me: "Okay. Let's read it together again."
Together: "... sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it." Genesis 4:7*
After we read it we talked about the meanings of crouching and desire. To illustrate this idea I used a stuffed animal to pretend it was sin and stuffed it in our front door.
Brielle: "Devour me."
Me: "Yes, devour you. Do you know what devour means?"
She didn't,
Me: "It means to eat up, so it wants to eat you up. What else does God say about sin?"
(We went back and reread Genesis 4:7, "... but you must rule over it.")
Me: (Then we talked about what it means to rule over something.) "So you need something to defeat it. So what are you going to use?" (So we went and got a weapon. She picked her toy bow and arrow.)
Me: "Okay, so this bow and arrow - if you rule over sin - will defeat it."
So I pretended that the bow and arrow was my tool to defeat sin by I shooting arrows at sin and began to beat it with the bow, which made her laugh until... she noticed that I had the bow and arrow upside down, AND then she was in tears again (insert eye-rolling emoji here).
Me: "Are you in control over your emotions or are you letting your emotions control you?"
Brielle: "I'm letting my emotions control me."
Me: "Do you understand that is sin? Sin wants to control you (I showed her Genesis 4:7 again) and you are letting it control you rather than ruling over it."
Me: "What tools do we have to help us 'rule over it'?"
Brielle: "Take a deep breath and pray?"
Me: "Yes, pray and Who lives inside of you?"
Brielle: "The Holy Spirit?"
Me: "Yes, and what does the Holy Spirit bring to mind?"
Brielle: "Uh, His Word?"
Me: "Yup. Ask the Holy Spirit for help. Those are your tools honey."
She was in deep, deep thought at this point, so I drove the point home.
Me: "Also, do you have the power to rule over sin all by yourself?"
Brielle: "No."
Me: "Nope. Who do you need?"
Brielle: "God."
Me: "Yes, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that lives in you and is the same power that will help you defeat sin. Most importantly, He always wins!"
(I let this soak in for a little bit, because even though she's heard it a million times I could tell that God was working on this one...)
Me: "... and we have God's Word and God's Word says that we have power over sin because we have who?"
Brielle: "Jesus!"
Me: "Yup. Because Jesus died on the cross for our sin, was buried, and rose again we have the Holy Spirit, who is God, revealing to us His Word and the truth in it. The truth is that we can defeat sin. Do you believe that God has the power to defeat sin?"
Brielle: "Yes."
Me: "Do you believe that God will answer your prayer when you ask for help?"
Brielle: "Yes."
At this point I'm all giddy on the inside because I could tell God was turning on the light bulb!
Me: "So would it be loving for mommy to let you continue in sin and let it conquer you?"
Brielle: a resounding, "NO!"
Me: "Yes! I love you too much to let you continue in sin. My job is to help you and point you back to Jesus, because the reality is that sin is no more powerful than that stuffed animal in relation to Jesus Christ. When we have Jesus we can conquer sin. And when we fail at conquering sin, we still have Jesus."
It was at this point that my five year old took an enormous deep breath, closed her eyes and let out a chuckle as she exhaled. She let it go and let God help her. In her weakness, God was made big and powerful.
And I got goosebumps.
--------------------
There is one more thing I want my children to understand about sin. Sin does not define us. It does not make us who we are. According to the way God talks about sin in Genesis 4:7, it is a separate entity - a noun, a thing - that desires to conquer our soul. But God has given us hope: Himself. Only the God of the universe has the ability to perfectly overcome sin. Since He gave Himself - by dying on the cross for our sin, being buried and defeating death by rising again - those who believe in Him also have the power to defeat sin. That is so relieving knowing that we can't do it apart from Him and that He has promised to never leave us or forsake us. Also, how awesome is it, that in our weakness He is glorified! We honor Him when we rely on Him.
Therefore, rely on Him to rule over sin. He will win.
*Different translations: "[Sin is] eager to control you."NLT
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