Your Name Was Written On His Palm!

After Wednesday night's sermon, I have become so intentional in my actions about trying to explain the betrayal, arrest, beating, and death of Jesus to my children. These are all of the events leading up to the resurrection and HENCE the REAL meaning behind Easter. As Christians, YES, we teach our children the gospel daily, in our living it out, in the way we instruct, in the way we discipline, by going to church and praying, etc.... The teachable moments are endless, however, it's easy, for me anyway, to accidentally get caught up in the hoopla that the secular world makes over Easter. Yes, our children will be blessed with a basket full of goodies, and yes, I will dye eggs with them, and yes, we will even have an easter egg hunt, but my prayer is that CHRIST'S resurrection is what remains the focus. I'm considering doing the baskets/hunt/and dyeing of eggs on Saturday. Maybe that will help keep the focus.

Anyway, the sermon was INCREDIBLE. It was a very detailed description of every aspect of Christ being led to the cross. I came across an impressive blog last night and I decided to mimic an "activity" with the kids, from it.

At dinner tonight, I asked the kids, "Does anyone know why Jesus died on the cross?" Tyson was the first person to answer. He said, "Yes, because people despised Him!" Yes, true, but that wasn't quite what I was getting at. I was hoping the kids would say, "Because we are a sinful people and the only way we can see a Holy God face to face is by Jesus laying down His life for ours, paying the penalty for our sins."

I then drew a red dot, representing the location where Jesus' nails were, on their hand, along with their name. I told them "Jesus died for Lilah's sin, for Jax's sin, for Tyson's sin." I wanted the drawing to be a reminder to them, for the rest of the evening, what Jesus did for US. I wasn't sure if Lilah and Jax really could grasp a nail going through their hand and what that looked like, so I took out my earring and pretended as if I was going to put it into their hands and allow it to come out the other side. Lilah freaked. Even the mere thought of something sharp going through our own hands is chilling, but Christ endured it all for us. He hung by His hands and feet on the cross. "It wasn't the nails that kept him there, it was love." (Quote from Jesus Story Book Bible) What an amazing grace!

I wanted to do this activity with Tyson this morning, before school, so that when the kids at school asked him what was on his hands, it would be a great opportunity for him to share the gospel with his classmates, but time ran short. So instead, I told the boys tonight, "When you go with daddy to get your haircut, if the man asks you about the Easter bunny, tell him about what's on your hand instead."
Lilah giggled as I wrote on her hands. I guess it tickled.

Jax was intrigued and very serious. Anytime the writings started to disappear, Jax wanted me to fix it. So sweet.

Tyson was all about writing on his hands. I hope I didn't create a bad habit by doing this :) I hope to do this tomorrow as well... Good Friday!!!

While our King was on the cross,

Our face was in His eyes,

Our life was in His mind,

Our sin was on His back,

Love of us, was in His heart,

For beloved, our name was written on His palm.