El Cordero – The Lamb

“What color is el cordero?” I ask the class. Hands shoot up eagerly. These kids know their colors in Spanish. “Yes, Joshua?”

“Blanco!” shouts Joshua confidently.

“Muy bien! Very good. And who can tell me about the lamb? What does it feel like?”

“It’s SUAVE! Soft!” grins Kyleigh, stroking the stuffed animal.

The Lamb of God

“That’s right! Did you know that Jesus is called ‘El Cordero de Dios’ – the Lamb of God?” Ten pairs of eyes are fixed on me and my white stuffed lamb. “In Bible times, if people did something wrong, they would give a lamb as a gift to God, to tell Him they were sorry. And they would ask God to forgive them. And do you think God forgave them?”

“Yes!” chorus the preschoolers.

“But when Jesus came, He was called the ‘Lamb of God’. And He took away all the bad things we’ve done when He died on the cross and came to life again. So now if we do something wrong, we just have to tell Jesus we’re sorry and ask Him to forgive us. And does God forgive us?”

“YES!”

“Aren’t you glad you don’t have to drag a big smelly sheep to church every time you do something wrong?”

Charlotte giggles as Caleb makes a bleating sound like a lamb. “Baa! Baa!”

The Gift of Forgiveness

Watching the preschoolers color their lamb pictures, I have to smile. Trying to explain Jesus as the Lamb of God to a group of 4-year-olds is not easy. But it’s given me a new understanding and appreciation of what it means to be forgiven – not because I deserve it, not because I’ve earned it, not because I’ve “paid” for it. Forgiveness is a free gift. The Lamb of God has come to bring forgiveness, so that I can forgive, and so that I can be FREE!

Have YOU received the FORGIVENESS offered by the Lamb of God? 

Going Vertical!
MJ

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
John 1:29 (NLT)