The Five Stories Children Need to Hear

he Bible is filled with stories. You can find intrigue, injustice, violence, treachery, deception, as well as love, loyalty, compassion, and encouragement. But which stories are essential to communicate with your kids or grandchildren? How about with the orphans our partners care for? These are the ones I have chosen as the top five:

The FIRST story is that of CREATION. God created the universe, then turned His attention to building a beautiful place to be inhabited by sea animals and land animals. Finally, everything was ready for people to be His greatest creation. “Then God said, ‘Let Us make human beings in Our image, to be like Us.’ In the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:26–27). Children are being told today that they are the product of a haphazard and indiscriminate evolution. It is important for them to grow up knowing that they are not an accident. Rather, God purposely designed every part of them and He loves them very much. 

The SECOND story is the entrance of SIN into our world. Satan lied to our first parents, Adam and Eve, suggesting that God did not have their best interests in mind when He told them not to eat the fruit of one particular tree. The devil said, “God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:5). Believing his lie instead of trusting God and obeying Him, they disobeyed God’s clear and simple command. “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” (Genesis 3:6). 

As a result, sin entered our world and has corrupted everything in it, including every human heart. Children need to understand why they are self-centered, and why they want their own way. They need to know that it’s because they have the deadly disease of sin within them.

The THIRD story is the promise of a SAVIOR. As soon as Adam and Eve sinned, God confronted their disobedience. But He also promised that a Man would someday arrive who would defeat Satan and atone for sin. God said to the devil, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel.” (Genesis 3:15). In the process, the Savior would be mortally wounded. 

In an attempt to hide the shame of their sin, Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves. However, Genesis 3:21 tells us that God provided the first substitutionary sacrifice of an innocent animal to give them garments of skin. Children need to know that, in spite of their sin, God still loves them, and He has a solution.

The FOURTH and most important story is the birth, death, and resurrection of JESUS CHRIST. The animal sacrifices of the Old Testament were a foreshadowing of the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ. He was the fulfillment of God’s promise of a Savior. God invaded our world to live among us. A major difference between us and Jesus is that He never sinned, which qualified Him to be our Substitute and die in our place for our sin. “All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6).  

After He was taken down from the cross, He was laid in a solid rock tomb, a big rock sealed the entrance shut, and a group of soldiers guarded it. However, death did not have the final word. On the third day after His death, Jesus came back to life and threw open the entrance to His tomb to show that He was alive! Children need to know that Jesus was resurrected and that death is not the end for them, either. They do not cease to exist at death. 

The FIFTH story is based on the Bible, but it must come from your experience. You need to review YOUR STORY with them to show them how to invite Christ into their life. Children need to be guided to receive Christ. You can be sure that this is high on the priority list for our partners, telling their orphans how to receive Christ as their personal Savior.

Marlon Furtado