“Without understanding the severe nature and depth of our sin problem, our children cannot fully appreciate nor grasp the wonder of the gospel of grace. If we have a child who only sees their sin as the wrong behaviors they do from time to time, they cannot truly understand just how beautiful the gospel is.”

There are so many important and necessary things that we teach our children. From the time they are babies, we spend countless hours saying “No” “Don’t touch” “Hold my hand” and “Don’t put things in your mouth.” We teach them to look both ways before crossing the street, to share with others, and to pick up their toys when they are finished with them.

But one of the greatest lessons we need to teach our children is that they are sinners.

Understanding sin, how it entered this world, how extensive and pervasive it is in us, and the only cure to sin is a foundational life lesson. In fact, it’s a life saving lesson.

Our Sin Problem

Our sin problem isn’t just that we sin from time to time. If that were the case, we just need to try harder not to sin. Our sin problem is not that we sin because we live in a bad environment or are influenced by the wrong people. It isn’t even that we hit others, don’t share, or talk back. Our sin problem goes all the way back to Genesis 3 when the first sin entered the world through our first parent’s, Adam and Eve. We call this Original Sin and it’s the moment when all the human race fell with Adam into sin. Ever since then we’ve all been born with a sin nature. So it’s not just that we commit sins but it’s also that we are sinners. Sin is infused into our very being, overflowing from our hearts to everything we think, feel, say, and do. Isaiah says that even our good deeds are like filthy rags (64:6).

Without understanding the severe nature and depth of our sin problem, our children cannot fully appreciate nor grasp the wonder of the gospel of grace. If we have a child who only sees their sin as the wrong behaviors they do from time to time, they cannot truly understand just how beautiful the gospel is. This is especially true for children who are perfectionists or who are fairly “good” kids in their outward behavior.

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