One of the things that I have always enjoyed about kids is their blatent honesty.  I am not sure at what point in life we learn to begin lieing to ourselves and the rest of the world, but honesty is a quality I am trying to preserve in my children for as long as possible. 

My six year old daughter has been a constant source of unfiltered perspective on herself and the world around her.  The fact that she is quite like me has led to more than one opportunity to re-discover my own crap in a very insightful and convicting way.

Her latest gem came several nights ago as we continued our discussion regarding a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  We have done our best to raise Rylee in a home environment where she is free to discover who God has made her and where we pray that she will discover who God is himself.  Because we recognize that in our role as parents we can make her do just about anything we want her to do we have been very careful not to manipulate her into praying a prayer of surrender that she doesn’t understand nor desire.

Over the course of the last six months she has begun to ask great questions regarding what it means to have a personal relationship with Christ.  She has asked why Jesus had to die, and why God would send his children to hell.  She understands sin and that she is a sinner.  In fact, the last question she asked me revealed that she understands just about everything she needs to on the subject.

I was tucking her in and could tell there was something on her mind.  When I asked her what she was thinking she inquired “why does Jesus have to be so bossy?“.  I knew immediately where this was coming from, you see the night before she had asked both Heidi and I if we had gotten saved (made a decision to follow Christ with our lives).  We both answered that we had and she asked how we did it.  I then explained that it simply required belief that Jesus was God, that you were a sinner, that He died and rose again to forgive us of our sins, and a genuine surrender of one’s life to His control.  I explained that Jesus not only wanted to forgive us of our sins and save us from hell, but also to know us and be the boss of our lives.

That last one was the sticking point.  She had wondered aloud why Jesus had to be in control.  I explained that it was because He created us and knew what was best for us and that His desire for control in our lives was only because He knew that if we did what we wanted to do we would destroy our own lives.  I explained further that obedience to His will and plan for our lives was the only way we could experience the life God intended for us.  She said OK and that we could talk more about it later.

She must of thought about it most of that next day – it seems that for her, like me, the idea of surrender is a difficult thing.  She gets it – now it’s just a matter of her being willing to give control of her little life over to my heavenly Daddy.  I’m praying that she does as soon as possible but am committed to allowing it to be her decision and in His time.

When you talk to your heavenly Father today, do me a favor and pray for my little girl – and her daddy.  That we would both be willing to yield our lives in surrender to Him. 

Her for the first time and me for the millionth.

God is Good – thanks for reading. 

Josh