How many people are there in the Bible?
Will I get a puppy?
These are actual questions I’ve received from children in Promiseland. Now and again, I will put out a fish bowl and invite kids to put in questions they have about God, or the Bible or their life. Sometimes, I’ve drawn out cards and spent our Large Group time discussing them; other times I’ve responded to each question by writing letters to the kids to help them find the answers.
Many of the questions are hilariously obscure or cut-to-the-chase honest (“Will I get a puppy?” – I mean, how great is THAT?) Still, very often, they are surprisingly profound and earnest. Like the one I got from one little boy lamenting over why God doesn’t heal us when we ask Him, when I knew this boy had been suffering from recurring headaches. Or this one from a kid trying to understand salvation:
"Why doesn't God change us more obviously when we ask Jesus to take our sin out of us?"
This is essentially the same question Paul wrestles with here at the end of Romans, Chapter 7. The Bible is clear that when a person gives his or her life to Christ, a profound transaction takes place; that person has crossed from death into life. We may have reconnected to the Vine and changed our eternal destinies, but we have not experienced any change in location. We are still tenants in a fallen world, still souls housed in fragile jars of clay, surrounded by the sin-soaked influences of those around us, or of our own making. Our lungs may be filled with Christ’s Spirit, but there are other toxins in this air.
“So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.” (vs. 21-23)
Thankfully, as we’ve seen before, Paul doesn’t stop here. If you’re looking for answers, you’d better read on! Chapter 8 is one of the richest hope-filled chapters you’ll find in all of scripture… all about life, glory, and becoming more than conquerors.
How great is THAT?
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