Jesus, Happy Meal Toys and Salvation

Last week I overheard an interesting conversation coming from the backseat of the minivan. My four year old asked her eight year old brother if he was following Jesus. My son said, "Well, that's sort of up to Jesus to decide. He will decide if I'm following Him good enough to get to heaven."

Uh oh - time for a little theological correction!

This kid of mine is a real thinker. In the past he's responded to the gospel with "I need to think about it. I need to read my Bible more to learn more about God." I always like hearing what's going on in his head!

So I inserted myself into the conversation for a review of sin, grace, atonement, and salvation. But it wasn't until the next day that the Happy Meal story came to mind - and I knew it would be the perfect way to clarify the concept of grace and the free gift of salvation. I found my boy and told him the story.

Remember that day a couple years back? You and I weren't getting along. You were being crabby and mean and disobedient. Nothing I did was making a difference in your behavior. Finally in desparation I said, "Okay buddy, no Happy Meal for you when we go to lunch. You'll just get a cheeseburger and a drink - no toy!"

When we got to McDonalds, your sisters got Happy Meals with toys while you very sadly ate your burger. I don't remember if you cried or fussed, but somehow one of the employees noticed your sadness. He brought a toy over to our table and gave it to you.

You didn't deserve the toy. But in his kind-heartedness he brought you one. All you had to do was take it and it would be yours.

That's kind of how it is with God. Even though we don't deserve to go to heaven, he makes the free gift available to us. All we have to do is take it!

He remembered the incident clearly and it helped him make sense of a big theological concept. The thing that made this incident so memorable was that the Hispanic employee's name was 'Jesus' - but to my very white, very suburban kids, his nametag read JESUS.