The Cross

Dino was eating a slice of colby-jack cheese. He took a bite from each corner, held it up, and asked me what it looked like.

"A plus sign? An 'X'? Red Cross that's orange and white?"

"No," he said, "it's a cross! Like the one Jesus died on!"

Okay then! An open door! I decided to step through it... "Do you know why Jesus died on the cross?"

He thought for a moment, "So he could go back to Heaven to live with God?"

"Not exactly," I started. I asked if he remembered from the Bible stories that we had been reading, how people used to have to make sacrifices for their sins. God's people gave God offerings of food and made blood sacrifices to atone for their sins. This is how people showed God that they were sorry, and He forgave them. But each individual sacrifice was not enough - they had to do this continually, year after year. I reminded Dino that Jesus was God, visiting Earth in a human body. God sacrificed his own body for us, because His body was the Ultimate Sacrifice that could atone for ALL of our sins at once.

Hebrews 9:28a (NIV)
So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many.

Because of Jesus' death on the cross, we can be forgiven and live with Him in Heaven forever!

Dino took all this in, then asked, "Have I sinned??"

"Yes. We all have..."

Romans 3:23 (NIV)
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

"...Do you know what sin is?" I explained that it is when you do something that is wrong in God's eyes. Lying, cheating, and stealing are all sin. I asked if he had ever done those. Dino nodded his head Yes and even came up with some recent examples!

Then he went back to talking about cheese... I guess his brain was full for the moment!

I am so thankful for these moments, for opportunities to share Jesus with Dino. He has a big heart and an impressive brain that soaks up everything put in front of him.