The Theology I Needed as a Child (Part 1)

Why Kids Need to Understand Justification

As a kid, I worried about whether I was really saved. I knew the gospel. I knew Jesus died for my sins.

But I didn’t feel saved. And I still sinned… a lot.

So, I thought… If becoming a Christian meant I had received eternal life, why didn’t I feel different? And if Jesus gave me a new spirit, why was I still doing things I knew were wrong?

I figured I must not have believed hard enough. Or maybe I hadn’t prayed the right prayer. Maybe I needed to ask Jesus into my heart again, just to be sure.

But no matter how many times I prayed or asked Jesus into my heart or turned from my sins, nothing changed. I didn’t feel any different. I still struggled with sin.

I met with teachers at my Christian school. I met with my youth pastor. Nothing helped. I eventually gave up and figured you just couldn’t know whether you were saved.

But then, a teacher changed my life and gave me assurance of my salvation.

How? He shared some theology with me. Specifically, he helped me understand the difference between justification and sanctification.

Those two words may not mean much to you, but for me, they were like an oasis in a barren desert. When I understood the difference between “getting saved” and “growing in faith,” it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders.

In this two-part series, I want to unpack both of those words. Let’s start with why kids need to understand them in the first place, and then dive into the term justification.

Kids Need More Than “Jesus Forgives You”

We sometimes assume children are too young for theological words like justification and sanctification. So, we simplify and tell them things like… “Believe in Jesus and God will forgive your sins and give you eternal life and give you joy and help you be good.”

Those things are all true. But when you combine them in that statement, it sounds like forgiveness of sins, receiving eternal life, having God’s joy, and learning how to be good all happen instantaneously. Which just isn’t true. At least not for me. It took me years to learn to live in God’s joy and to live obediently. In fact, now that I think about it, I’m still working on both of those every day.

So you can see how this would confuse a kid. They believe in Jesus as their Savior, and then they lose their temper, lie, or disobey their parents. And suddenly they’re asking: “Am I really a Christian? I thought I should be happy and obedient all the time now.”

Basically, they have a theology problem.

Here’s what they need to know.

Justification: What God Has Already Done

The word justification describes what happens when God declares a sinner righteous because of Jesus.

Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Justification does not depend on our good works. It depends 100% on what Jesus did for us on the cross.

He lived the perfect life we could not live. He died for our sins. He rose again. When we trust in Him, His righteousness becomes the basis of our acceptance before God.

For a child, I might explain it something like this:

Justification means that because you believed in Jesus, God accepts you because of what Jesus did for you on the cross – not because of how good you are.

Make sure kids understand that their acceptance with God rests on Christ.

Half the Answer

Justification answered my biggest fear. My standing with God didn’t rest on how I felt, how many times I’d prayed the prayer, or how well I’d behaved that week. It rested on Jesus.

But it didn’t answer everything. I was still sinning. And if God accepts us because of what Jesus did, a kid might reasonably wonder: Does how I live even matter?

It absolutely does. That’s where the second word comes in.

Justification is what God has already done for us. In Part 2, we’ll look at sanctification – what God is still doing in us – plus why kids need both truths at the same time and a few simple ways to teach them at home and at church.