APRIL 2017
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That well known verse sets the stage . God loves us so much that he sent us his Son , not to forgive our sins by simply saying , “ Your sins are forgiven !” He sent his Son to forgive our sins by being CRUCIFIED . God asked his Son , Jesus Christ , to forgive our sins by being executed for us . Executed for us in one of the most excruciatingly painful ways anyone could imagine .
Okay . Enough of the set-up . Here is the story I told the kinds .
Once upon a time , Tony the Tiger lived in the Land of Upside Down . Everything in the Land of Upside Down seemed ridiculous . Everything there seemed just the opposite of what we would expect .
Well , one day when Tony wasn ’ t home , Harry the Hyena drove by Tony ’ s home and sprayed it with bullets . Harry , the leader of a vicious gang , was seeking revenge on the leader of a rival gang . But , Harry had the wrong house . Thirty-two bullets ripped apart Tony ’ s house and killed his wife and his three daughters . Only Tony ’ s son , Tommy , survived . Harry was caught , tried and sentenced to the electric chair . He had zero remorse .
There was a strange law in the Land of Upside Down . A person could choose to swap places with someone on death row . So , Tony the Tiger asked his son , Tommy , to swap places with Harry . And , Tommy did it !!
Our first response would be that story is somewhere between just plain silly and outrageously stupid . But , of course , THAT is exactly what God the Father asked his Son to do for US . God the Father asked Jesus to swap places with us and be brutally executed on a cross . Because of our sins , WE belonged on the cross . God ’ s love for us , though , is so deep , he asked his Son to forgive our sins by lovingly taking upon himself our punishment .
The kids got the message . Do we ? Our God loves us to pieces .
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