A turtle life?

A mommy whose 5 year old son attended our Vacation Bible School reported the following: So, I tell Jacob, "Tell me the words to that song so we can ask Mrs. Scott." "Okay," he says, "it's the one with the turtle in it.""What?" I ask perplexed "You know... God paid the price, so we can have "a turtle" life!" I went hysterical!!!! You really can't make this stuff up! So, if you could provide us with the title, or some of the "real" words that would be great.

After a bit of research, we discovered that the lyrics actually say, "Jesus paid the price so we could have eternal life!" I guess when your just 5 years old, a "turtle life" makes more sense than 'eternal' life!

The Gospel is always presented within context, and unless we take care to translate the message accurately across cultural and age boundaries, we might end up preaching an incomprehensible garble of words. To present Christ to the world we need both insight into our audience and the enabling of the Spirit!

In the book of Acts, we read of Paul's visit to Athens. In a masterful illustration of cross-cultural communication, he went to the Areopagus to talk about Christ Jesus in the philosophy forum there. He started this way. "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands." (Acts 17:22-24, NIV) He set the message of Jesus Christ into the context of the audience. He then, preached a brilliant message about the God who knows who we are and Who can be known through the Resurrected Lord Jesus. Some mocked, but there were converts that day. He was willing to leave his comfort zone to carry the Good News to others. He said, "Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ. ... When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings." (1 Corinthians 9:19, 22-23, NLT)

Disciples are called to share the hope and life of Jesus Christ with their world. If people are not responding to our message, if we're not helping others find the Truth of Jesus, we must not assume they are uninterested in what we have to say. It might be that we need to check how we're saying it; taking time to determine if our words are comprehended as we intend. Imagine being without a working knowledge of the Scripture and being challenged to come to be 'washed the Blood of the Lamb!' That is one scary picture if the words are taken literally without a grasp of the metaphors intended! It only means something if a person knows the story of the Passover, something of the sacrificial system of the Old Testament, and about the Cross! For those who do, being 'washed in the blood of the Lamb' is a beautiful way to speak of God's mercy and grace, that is offered freely, but at a terrible expense, by the One who gave His life to take away our guilt so we can know and love a Holy God.

Thanks, Jacob, for a great lesson in communication. I hope that your Mommy can help you re-work that song in your mind so that 'turtle life' becomes 'eternal life.'