Funerals, kids, and what you have to be to get into heaven...

The preacher was asking the kids who were at the front of the church for the kids sermon what they needed to be to get to heaven.  He did not get the desired response such as "born again" or  "believer"  instead, one kid, who saw the world in black and white terms perked up, “Pastor, you gotta be dead!”    

            We as parents and leaders of children can easily think that we should shield our children from anything to do with death.  It is hard to know what to say to a child when their pet has died, much less a grandparent or a parent.  We so often fall for giving them some nice sounding cliches that we  would be hard pressed to explain.  For instance- God doesn't take Grandpa to heaven because "he needed a fishing buddy" that kind of mushy talk may make a kid feel good, but it is problematic because it makes God needy and ultimate selfish.   Or we may say... "God wanted another angel so he took ______ " We don't become angels in heaven when we die.. really!  Don't demean what it means to be a human by turning us into angels.  We are human...and will always be human. We will one day receive a resurrected body like Jesus has.  Till then believers are in the presence of God.  God became flesh in Jesus- he did not become an angel. 

            Remember that the goal of being a parent is not to make our kids comfortable or life easy for them. We want to give them the ability to live as they were made to live- people in relationship with God.  Death comes as a result of sin.  The only solution for sin is Jesus Christ.  Without Jesus we have no solution for sin.  With him the sin and death problem is solved. God’s word gives us the promise that we have hope for this life and the next. Death does not have the last word.  Jesus promises us eternal life and this life is in Him. Heaven is not a place we have to go to, we get to go.   So death is hard and it stings- sometimes very hard- but Jesus is with us and will be there at the bottom of the sadness. 

            Talk with your kids about death.  Take them to funerals.  Don’t shield them from the reality of sin and all its ugliness. They will then be open to hear the good news of Jesus and the beautiful hope of eternity as precious and sweet, good news for them.