Not too long ago I was taking the boys to school and wanted to talk with them about the idea of sin. Now, remember they are 6 years old and sin is not really their issue right now. They are learning how to survive in our world and starting to relate to God and his word. There hearts are pure and all they want is for the world to be a perfect place where God's love reigns. It is what every six year old thinks and is after. So I wanted to come at this conversation carefully. You might also ask, if that is the case for 6 year olds then why bring it up anyway. I would rather my kids know what is coming before it comes. I would rather tell them that the kid at home plate is going to hit the ball towards their face, rather than having to pick them off the ground and explain to them that NEXT time they should be watching more carefully. So we had a conversation about sin.
Most of the time using original language words and their meanings would be off limits to such a young audience, but I find that in the case of sin that using the original meaning is really useful for a six year old. So I chose to talk about the greek word for sin, "hamartia." The proper definition for this word is "missing the mark." We see it translated as sin. But in the greek the word is making the case that guilt and shame are produced by not hitting the target (whatever that might be). For us it is not hitting the target of what God has called us to in our lives. Hamartia and its definition of "missing the mark," allows for us to see sin the way it should be seen; as something we do, not something God puts on us.
So after explaining all that to my kids...just kidding, I would never go into all that at age 6. I simply asked the boys what it feels like when you try to hit a target (we recently were using our fence with a chalk-drawn bullseye to practice throwing the baseball) and miss. They responded with disappointing, sad, angry, silly, hilarious...we were starting to go off topic. I acknowledged that those are true feelings when we don't do something exactly like we want to do it. I explained that sometimes doing things wrong are like missing that mark, that target.
"Tell me what are some things you sometimes miss at?" Silence...thinking...thinking..."Ok, when dad forgets to take out the trash, dad missed the mark. If you whine because you have to go to bed, missing the mark or hitting the mark?"
"Miss!"
"Leaving toys out and dad steps on them?"
"Miss!"
"Dad forgets to grab your lunch for school?"
"Miss!"
"Mom makes your lunch for you?"
"Miss!"
"Uh, no!" "
Oh yeah, Hit!"
"Right!"
Before we made it to school I wove in the fact that when we do things that makes God sad we miss the mark. We call that sin. "Have you heard that word?"
"Yes."
Well that is what sin is, it is when we miss the mark as we try to serve God. We won't always do everything right and we will miss the mark. But God loves us enough to forgive us every time.
"Dad, can we play that hit or miss game again?"
Most of the time using original language words and their meanings would be off limits to such a young audience, but I find that in the case of sin that using the original meaning is really useful for a six year old. So I chose to talk about the greek word for sin, "hamartia." The proper definition for this word is "missing the mark." We see it translated as sin. But in the greek the word is making the case that guilt and shame are produced by not hitting the target (whatever that might be). For us it is not hitting the target of what God has called us to in our lives. Hamartia and its definition of "missing the mark," allows for us to see sin the way it should be seen; as something we do, not something God puts on us.
So after explaining all that to my kids...just kidding, I would never go into all that at age 6. I simply asked the boys what it feels like when you try to hit a target (we recently were using our fence with a chalk-drawn bullseye to practice throwing the baseball) and miss. They responded with disappointing, sad, angry, silly, hilarious...we were starting to go off topic. I acknowledged that those are true feelings when we don't do something exactly like we want to do it. I explained that sometimes doing things wrong are like missing that mark, that target.
"Tell me what are some things you sometimes miss at?" Silence...thinking...thinking..."Ok, when dad forgets to take out the trash, dad missed the mark. If you whine because you have to go to bed, missing the mark or hitting the mark?"
"Miss!"
"Leaving toys out and dad steps on them?"
"Miss!"
"Dad forgets to grab your lunch for school?"
"Miss!"
"Mom makes your lunch for you?"
"Miss!"
"Uh, no!" "
Oh yeah, Hit!"
"Right!"
Before we made it to school I wove in the fact that when we do things that makes God sad we miss the mark. We call that sin. "Have you heard that word?"
"Yes."
Well that is what sin is, it is when we miss the mark as we try to serve God. We won't always do everything right and we will miss the mark. But God loves us enough to forgive us every time.
"Dad, can we play that hit or miss game again?"
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