Do you boys and girls know what the difference is between believing something in your head and believing something in your heart? We have two short stories here that will help you to understand that there is a very important difference.
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It was late afternoon, and Mrs. Thomas was working on dinner for her family when the doorbell rang. It was a neighbor lady who said, “I just heard that a student walking home from school got hit by a car. I didn’t hear who it was, but it could be a child we all know.” They chatted a bit about how sad the news was and wondered . . .
Mrs. Thomas believed what the neighbor had said. She believed the news in her head.
Then the doorbell rang again, and a different neighbor brought the urgent news: “Mrs. Thomas, your son Ryan got hit by a car on his way home from school!”
Now the news was not only sad; this was very bad news! Mrs. Thomas quickly went to the phone to call her husband to tell him, before she left to hurry to the hospital.
Now Mrs. Thomas believed the news in her heart! It involved her personally.
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Our second story is about eight-year-old Cathy. She attended Sunday school, and the children had a Bible verse to memorize each week. The verse she had learned this week was Isaiah 53:66All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)— “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him [Jesus] the iniquity [sins] of us all.”
Cathy lived close enough to Sunday school that she would walk. On her way, she skipped along and repeated her memory verse to the rhythm of her skipping. She knew her verse well.
In her Sunday school class, each child would take his or her turn, repeating the same memory verse. Now it was Cathy’s turn. She repeated it slowly but perfectly. When she finished the last part, “The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all,” she started to cry as she said, “He did that for me—He did that for me!”
Now Cathy believed the verse in her heart. Now she understood and believed that Jesus paid the price for her very own sins personally, when He was on the cross!
Her wise Sunday school teacher said, “Let’s thank the Lord Jesus, Cathy, that it was for you.” They knelt down, and after the teacher had thanked the Lord for opening Cathy’s heart to see Jesus as her substitute, Cathy whispered, “Lord Jesus, thank You for dying for me and for taking my punishment.” Then the quiet calm of being accepted by God filled her heart, and she had peace with God.
Boys and girls, do you believe that verse only in your head? Or, like Cathy, do you believe it in your heart, that it was for you personally that Jesus died?
ML-09/07/2014