Wake up Call on Sunday Morning

Stop! Before you read this please don't misunderstand what I am writing. This was very unexpected and not at all planned. Of course when we allow God full hold on the reigns of our lives you never know what will happen. Well to begin with if you do not know already I am a Sunday School teacher at my church for the 9-10 grade girls. I love it! These girls hold a very special place in my life and although it can be trying sometimes I know God has me exactly where He needs me to be. So, Sunday morning was "graduation" for all the SS classes and I had a couple of new students come into the classroom. It was so exciting to have to pull chairs into the room because we did not have enough seats. Anyway, we took time to talk about the past week and upcoming stuff for their summer breaks before we started our lesson. Our lesson this past week was from the parable about the "Unmerciful servant"Matthew 21-35. As we discussed the parable I gave them a "what if" to think about and I remembered it from a witnessing/discipleship study called "Way of the Master". It was simply this: If you had a child or someone close to you and their life had been taken by a reckless driver. They did not stop they just kept going and it took some time to find them. During this time they had started to feel remorse/guilt. When finally arrested and brought to trial that person stood before a judge and apologized for killing your child and explained to the judge how bad they felt and remorseful and guilty. Then the judge looked at that person and said "WELL SINCE YOU ARE SO SORRY FOR DOING THIS CRIME AND YOU SEEM LIKE YOU REALLY HAVE BEEN CHANGED THEN I WILL LET YOU GO. " the girls in the class were horrified and of course noticed immediately that this would not have been a just ruling for the judge. The bad person was shown mercy and the family nothing. I explained to the girls how this applies to our lives. Look at all we do and expect mercy to be showered on us daily. I asked them "what if God was a just God and gave us exactly what we deserve which does not include mercy?" The whole room got quite. I then explained to them how our salvation is His mercy. I explained to them that because you say you opened the door to your heart when He knocked and said the prayer of salvation and maybe even learned the Roman Road all of that does not make you a Christian. As I looked at each one of them in the face I cannot explain the almost confused looks I received back. So, I continued. I explained that those things are not wrong they are the beginning of what should be a new life . I explained that if they have opened the door, said the prayer, memorized the Roman Road and have never turned away from the things of this world and are still continuing to live like they were before their"experience with Christ" might be all that it was. I told them that there is a break in the chain and it is not with just them but within the body. We are just as responsible to make sure that the decisions,the walks, the growth is beginning from that day forth. If you read the parable listed above you will see how Jesus tries to teach us about forgiveness, love, mercy. I feel that with these students, for them to truly learn what true forgiveness is and how to receive His mercy then they have to understand where they stand at in their relationship with Him. Praise God for His mercy in my life and for saving a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I am found. I was blind but now I see. Thank you God for using me.