As the World Began: June 2006

“Can we listen to Hollaback Girl?”

Under normal circumstances, you would never think that a question like this would lead to one of the best witnessing opportunities I have ever had. But God gave me the grace to open my mouth. Here’s the full story:

So it was just another ordinary day (a Thursday, to be precise) of bouncing for me… except for the fact that I had been convicted the entire day of how apathetic and sinful I had been in sharing the gospel since returning from Mexico. The entire morning I was praying that God would give me a chance to share the hope that is found in Christ alone with someone… anyone. One of the things that I can’t seem to get out of my mind is how really short and brief my life here on earth is. There’s only a small amount of time left to share the gospel and plead with sinners to repent and flee to the savior. Even as I’m typing and as you’re reading this brief rambling the seconds are ticking by, and they can never be regained. The Old Testament is great for putting a truth like this into perspective:

“Lord, make me to know my end
And what is the extent of my days
Let me know how transient I am.
Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths
And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight
Surely every man at His best is a mere breath.
Surely every man walks about as a phantom;
Surely they make an uproar for nothing;
He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them.
-Psalm 39:4-6

It’s good to share our faith while we still have time. My heart is deeply moved by Moses’ prayer to God in Psalm 90, “So teach us to number our days, that we may present to you a heart of wisdom.”

Anyway, back to the story: so I’m bouncing away and minding my own thoughts when two young girls run up to me and ask the question that (unbeknownst to them) leads to them hearing the gospel.

“Can we listen to Hollaback Girl?” they pleaded with bright, beady eyes.

“But that’s a pretty bad song, isn’t it?” I reply.

“But there’s a clean version!” they retorted.

At this point I suddenly became intentional about turning this conversation to talk about spiritual things with these two eight-year-old girls. I understood that if I wasn’t intentional, then it probably wouldn’t lead to the good news. So I began with:

“So, what do you girls think makes a song ‘bad’ in the first place?”

“Well, probably if it has bad words or talks about bad things.”

“Let me ask you a quick question: have you ever done anything bad before?”

This is where the first surprise of the convo popped up: I couldn’t believe how quick Paige and Gabby (as I soon found out their names to be) were to admit that they had done bad things in the short eight years of life!

“Oh yeah, we’ve done lots of bad things!”

“Ok, well so have I. But what kinds of bad things have you done.”

They went off to say that they have lied to their parents many times and said bad words and disobeyed their parents and so on and so forth.

“Ok, well all of those ‘bad things’ we talked about are what the Bible calls sin. Have you girls ever heard of this word before?”

It turns out that they both had. Paige was a Mormon and Gabby was a “Christian” (but she didn’t go to church and [as I soon discovered] didn’t think she was going to heaven when she died.

“Sin is basically breaking God’s Law that He has given to us. So, keeping in mind what we just talked about before about the bad things that you have both done, when you die and you stand before God, will you be innocent or guilty of breaking his law?”

“Well, we’d be guilty.”

“And if you’re guilty, would God have to send you to heaven or to hell?”

“Oh. I guess he would send me to hell.”

And now the second surprise of the convo popped in: I couldn’t believe how readily Paige and Gabby understood the concept of sin and the consequence for dying without the sin forgiven. They were very honest when they said that if they died that night they would end up in hell.

“Well, do you know what you need to do so you don’t have to go to hell?”

“Umm… do we need to pray or go to church or something like that?”

“Oh, no! Let me explain what God did to save sinners just like you and me. He sent His only son, Jesus, to the earth. And Jesus lived a perfect life, meaning that all of those times that we talked about where you and I had done bad things…. Jesus didn’t. Instead, He obeyed God perfectly. And then, He died on the cross so that all of those who would ever repent and confess their sins and trust and believe that He took the punishment for their sins would be forgiven and be given His perfect life (or righteousness). So girls, if you repent – meaning that you confess your sins to God and then turn your back on a sinful life of disobedience – and believe that when Jesus died on the cross, He was dying in your place, then you will be forgiven of all of your sins and be on your way to heaven… does that make sense?”

“Yes.”

“It’s kinda like this: have you girls ever gotten like REALLY muddy or dirty before?”

They smiled and giggled a little bit, “Yeah…”

“Ok, and when you were all muddy, could you ever clean yourselves off on your own?”

“Umm… no.”

“That’s right. Because if you’re all muddy and dirty and you try to clean yourself off, you’re just gonna spread the mud around and make yourself look even worse! But what do you need then? Well, you need something outside of yourself, like soap and water to wash away all of the mud from your body, right?

“Right.”

“Well, that’s just like how we are before God. The mud is like all of the bad things we have ever done (our sin) that we can never give rid by ourselves but the water is like blood of Jesus which washes all of the mud away and makes us clean again.”

“Wow.”

“So girls, what are you going to do to get right with God?”

“Umm… I think I need to pray” they both said.

“Well, thank you so much for listening, you’ve both been really great listeners. But will you both make me a promise real quick?”

“Ok. Sure.”

“Tonight, before you go to bed, will you think about what I have said and pray to Jesus that He would forgive you of your sins and come into your life and give you a new heart that wants to obey and follow after Him.”

“Yeah, we will.”

“Great! Hey, thanks again so much for listening girls! Now let’s get back to bouncing!”

~*~

I was floored.

It’s so great to be reminded that EVERYONE needs the gospel… in spite of their age. Every single man, woman, and child is guilty before God and needs be made right with Him or they will go to hell. I think that we tend to view some people as more in need of the gospel than others (at least I know that I do!)… but this experience really opened my eyes to the fact that even young children can understand the concept of sin and can admit that they will go to hell if they die in their sins!

Wow.

Let us never lack to be diligent in preaching the gospel to every living thing… so long as we have breath in our lungs!

Then the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go up and join this chariot.’ Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ And he said, ‘Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?’ And He invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this:

HE WAS LEAD AS A SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER;
AND AS A LAMB BEFORE ITS SHEARER IS SILENT,
SO HE DOES NOT OEPN HIS MOUTH
IN HUMILIATION HIS JUDGMENT WAS TAKEN AWAY;
WHO WILL RELATE HIS GENERATION?
FOR HIS LIFE IS REMOVED FROM THE EARTH.

The eunuch answered Philip and said, ’Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?’ Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him.
-Acts 8:29-35