Yesterday in youth Sunday School I introduced the students to the book that I am teaching the adults of the church on concerning the Power of a Whisper from Bill Hybels.
I asked each of the youth (mostly all in 6-8 grade) if they have ever heard a whisper or call from God and to my surprise, all said no.
I was surprised by this because just last week in the adult classes, probably 50% of them told of a whisper that they received when they were children...and to note, much younger than the students in my Sunday school class.
Could this be true? Could all ten of those students HAVE NEVER heard a call from God?
If so, then I am so sad for them! I too received a whisper that changed my life when I was their age, and I grew up with that whisper always on my mind.
I asked the Sunday school class why they thought that none of them have heard a whisper before, and one student replied, "Because we are sinners and God doesn't talk to sinners."
Oh brother.
A big step backward I thought...as just last class we went over again the concept of Jesus connecting us sinners back to God the Father.
So on went the discussion. We will see if any of this sticks for next Sunday.
But this one student was right, in a way.
I always give the explanation of invisible strings.
You see, if I am connected to God by lots of invisible strings, and one or more of those strings turn black with sin, then those black strings disconnect from God, because God is the most pure and nothing sinful can be connected with Him.
So when I sin, not all of my connector strings are connected with God. They can't be. But thankfully Jesus brought back the power of those strings by dying on the cross for my "black strings of sin" and therefore if I ask for forgiveness, my black strings are then once again pure and then again linked back up with God.
I guess in a way, Jesus is the bleaching agent here. Making my dark sins, clean once again.
With this in mind, this is why it is important that when we pray to God, we need to remember to ask for forgiveness first. That way all of your invisible strings are always all connected and working properly.
Oh, and the title "snevil" refers to another idea that came out of Sunday School yesterday. One of the students came up with the word snevil - which refers to both sin and the devil in one word because as this student put it, "They are the same thing!"
How true that is.
