Uhh...Mommy's got to go brush up on that...hang on.

Tonight Allyssa was asking me questions.

"What does fear mean?"
"Why should we fear God?"

I could totally think of a description of what I think having a fear of God is, but I didn't think that my description was age appropriate for her.

Here's my scenario:

When I was about 7 or so, I remember every Sunday after we confessed our sins, I would listen as the pastor would say the Absolution. I wasn't just listening though. I was listening for him to say, "except for Laura." Every Sunday. You know, every Sunday I was so relieved when Pastor wouldn't say that. I was so relieved to hear him say that my sins were forgiven.
I think that is a good example of the fear of the Lord. I knew that my sins, were enough to damn me to Hell. I also knew that Christ died for me, but hearing that my sins were forgiven had so much power. Understanding that I deserved Hell made the Gospel message so incredibly sweet.

I didn't think that was a good example to tell her about because it was about me, and I didn't want her to feel that she had to think like I did. While I don't think that there was anything wrong with that, if she didn't think that every Sunday, there wouldn't be anything wrong with that either. I told her that we are to respect God and that we know that our sins are bad and that we deserve Hell, but that Jesus died for us and we are forgiven. It answered her question, but I knew that she wanted an example.

So...tonight after she went to bed, I brushed up on it. I know that my little girl remembers Bible Stories very well. So I was thankful to find that in Luther's Explanation to the Small Catechism there was a story just for this.

Tomorrow, I'll tell Allyssa the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. (Daniel 3)