Saturday afternoon I was preparing to take Rylee on a Daddy-Daughter date to Chick-fil-a. As I loaded her into the car, without any prodding, she posed this question to me:
“Daddy, do you remember (pronounced by her as ‘member’) when we were broken and Jesus fixed us and put us back together?”
I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. I smiled and enthusiastically replied to her, “Yes I do.” I promptly took out a pad of paper and wrote the exchange down so I could recall it later exactly as it transpired. I knew I would want to revisit her simple, yet profound question.
At not quite three years of age my little girl articulated the essence of the Gospel as well as the most skilled preacher ever could hope to. She is learning truth that most adults I encounter have yet to grasp. In my counseling and preaching I spend a significant amount of time deconstructing the false gospel of the American Bible belt. That flawed gospel says that we have to fix ourselves – put ourselves back together, and then maybe Jesus will have us. As a result ‘church people’ keep trying to live up to a standard they think will pass God’s checklist and thereby earn His favor and love. The ‘De-churched people’ have come to the conclusion that they will never be able to – so they gave up and just quit doing the church thing. That’s the man centered Gospel so many have unfortunately been taught and subsequently bought into. What they could learn from Rylee is that Jesus is the One, the only One, who does the fixing and putting pieces back together. That’s the message of the Gospel. That is what the Cross was for. Jesus is the One who makes dead men live, blind men see, and lame men walk.
Do you remember when you were broken and Jesus put you back together and fixed you? Or are you still trying to fix yourself?
– Brad
bradraby.com 