I Can't Play With You....You Believe In Jesus!

Last night at dinner, Drew and Bryna and I were talking when Drew revealed that she knew of two people who were Bryna's friends who didn't believe in Jesus. Bryna looked at me nervously as if I was going to tell her she could never speak to those friends again....which is exactly what I did not do. As we discussed this, they told me that one little girl had told another friend that her mom said they couldn't be friends anymore; because she believed in Jesus. I said...."Hmmmm that's interesting, since they played together all of last year!" Apparently last year, the one friend didn't wear a cross necklace and now she does! Then Drew told me that the little girl said she does believe in Jesus, but she believes He died in a field of flowers. I thought about it for a minute....not too long....but long enough to figure out how I wanted to address this. I just explained that we are a believing and accepting family of Jesus Christ, and believing and accepting are two different things. Many people believe that Jesus existed, but they don't accept the grace and salvation He offers us. We know that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, because it says so in The Bible. We are not a judging family, and it is not our place to judge others on their beliefs. We are called to love and to serve....not to judge. I asked the girls to continue to shine the light of Christ in their daily activities and to stand firm in their beliefs but to remember that it is not our place to judge. I encouraged them both to continue their friendship with the little girls who may believe/may not believe and not to be afraid to share their beliefs about Jesus being Our Savior but to do it in a gentle, kind, loving way. What I can hope is that maybe Drew's and Bryna's words and love will light a spark in those little girls' hearts and maybe they will start feeling the nudge....maybe they already are; and my girls were put in their path to help brighten the spark.