Read: Colossians 1:19-23

The people that Paul is writing to didn’t always love the Lord. Before they became Christians, they actually hated God. Paul says that they were the enemies of God. Their minds were filled with hatred for the Lord. And this showed in the things that they did and the way that they lived. They did evil things, things that didn’t please God.

Do you know, that by nature we are all like this as well? From ourselves we too would want nothing to do with the Lord and would actually hate him. That sounds pretty awful, doesn’t it? But it’s true! If the Holy Spirit wasn’t working in our hearts to make us love the Lord, we would actually hate the Lord. We wouldn’t want to serve him.

We know that the Lord doesn’t ignore our sin and hatred. Because God is holy, he can’t ignore sin. Sin must be paid for. Sin must be punished.

That’s why it is so beautiful to read Paul telling the Colossians that they have been reconciled. To be reconciled means that God was no longer angry at them because of their sins and that they now loved the Lord. How was this possible? How could God’s anger at their sins be gone? Only because Christ died on the cross with his real human body. Instead of punishing the Colossians for their sins, God punished the Lord Jesus instead. Christ took the wrath of God and so the Colossians were now seen by God as holy, without sin.

In the same way, even though we sin every day, when we ask for forgiveness, God does forgive us because of Christ’s death. Isn’t that amazing? Of ourselves, we hate God. We sin every day and the only punishment God will accept for our sins is for us to be sent to hell. And yet Christ went to hell for us while he was hanging on the cross. He took all of God’s anger at sin upon himself, and now we don’t have to be punished any more. Instead the Lord loves us as his beloved children.

Reflection with your child:

Does God’s gift of forgiveness make you thankful? How should you show this thankfulness?