By: Crystal Mazzuca
Helping Kids Understand the Beauty from Redeemed Brokenness
“But I don’t feel like a sinner. I’m a good kid!”
Years ago, these heartfelt and honest words were shared with me by a fifth-grade girl. I’ll never forget the tremor in her voice and her tear-filled eyes as she confessed her feelings. In that moment, it was obvious that how she felt was weighing her down—like she wasn’t sure she was allowed to say how she felt.
In our best efforts to help kids understand their sinfulness and need for a Savior, we can sometimes gloss over the difficulties of how this truth translates to kids who don’t feel like sinners.
Kids who obey their parents and teachers.
Kids who are kind and helpful.
Kids who don’t lie or use harsh words.
How can we help all kids understand their brokenness and need for Jesus?
Start with Our Broken World
We live in a broken world. This is something kids can easily see and recognize. From suburbs to big cities and everywhere in between, the brokenness of our world is obvious. We can start by explaining that when God created the world, He created everything perfect. But because of sin, our world is broken. Even if we don’t feel like sinners, we can all agree that we are living in a broken world.
Move to Our Broken Identity
Kids are concrete thinkers. If we address sinfulness as a list of behaviors to avoid, then kids who don’t struggle with those behaviors will struggle to see themselves as sinners. And kids who do struggle with those behaviors will think all they need to do is behave differently.
But the Bible makes it clear that we are all sinful and broken.
“If we say, ‘We have no sin,’ we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 1:8
“We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way … .” Isaiah 53:6
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23
If kids don’t see themselves as sinners, we can help them see that we are all sinners. Even when we try our best, work hard, and make good choices, we will never be perfect. And because God is perfect, our “good enough” will never be good enough. We aren’t broken because we do bad things. We do bad things because we are broken. Our whole identity is broken. This is why we need help. This is why we need Jesus. He’s our only hope to have a relationship with God and to be who He created us to be.
End with the Beauty of Redeemed Brokenness
While this approach is helpful in guiding kids come to terms with their own brokenness and need for Jesus, we also have the incredible opportunity to point kids to the beauty of redemption that we see as a result of brokenness.
“But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
The fact that God loves us so extravagantly is an amazing thing. Sharing the incredible love of God that we see in His redemption of our brokenness can help kids see why it’s a good thing for them to acknowledge their need for Him.
As ministry leaders, we have the (sometimes) challenging job of helping kids understand the brokenness of our world and the brokenness of our identities. But we also get to share the incredible love of God that changes everything. There truly is beauty in redeemed brokenness.
Crystal Mazzuca is the Content Editor and Resource Specialist for Lifeway’s NextGen resource Hyfi. With an MA in Christian Education Administration, she has a passion to encourage and equip leaders to impact the next generation for Christ. She’s spent the last 20 years in Kids, Student, and Family Ministry and loves serving both the big C church and her local church in Olympia, WA. Crystal loves reading, going to the beach, and playing video games with her 3 sons.
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