Born to be Wild? Nope.

I am a teacher. I may dream of other careers, think about how exciting they might be and what adventures I could have, but there's not doubt in my mind that encoded in my DNA it says - This one's a teacher.

It really doesn't matter if I'm in my high school classroom or presenting to other teachers or rolling around in the floor with the preschoolers at church, I love to see the light of recognition, that "light bulb moment."

I teach sixth grade Sunday School at the church I attend, and much to my surprise, they are a hoot! I expected it to be tough, but to tell you the truth, it's a cake walk compared to some of  my high school English classes. Oh don't get me wrong. They have their moments, but the love that God has given me for these little brothers and sisters overwhelms me in a way that I had not imagined.

Tomorrow is the evangelical focus lesson for this series of lessons, and as I prepared to teach them, the Spirit urged me to read the verses again. I need to know where the WORD proclaims the truths that the A B Cs of Salvation teach. So, I did, and in doing so was blessed again with the mysterious simplicity of the plan of salvation.

We're reading the story of King David. David had a relationship with God that blows my mind. He wasn't a priest or a prophet. He was a soldier and a king. He operated in the worldly realm, making worldly decisions and getting his hands dirty, really dirty. Yet David had this intimate relationship with the Father as evidenced by the Psalms he wrote. And David, like the rest of us, sinned. He blew it big time in spite of his closeness with God. When confronted with that sin, David grieved. He admitted his sin. He believed God could forgive. He confessed that sin in prayers and songs that are preserved to this day in the book of Psalms.

In order for David to be forgiven, he had to go through the elaborate ritual of sacrifice that was part of Old Testament life. You and I don't have to endure that part because we have the ultimate sacrifice in Jesus. As I looked up verses for my sixth graders, scouring the list for the most simple wording, this is what I found...

Admit -
Romans 3:23 ...all have sinned...

Believe
I John 2:2 ...He (Jesus) Himself is the propitiation (or substitute) for our sins

Confess
I John 1:9 ...If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The apostle John speaks later about how gratitude for that "saving" from the punishment that we really should receive (the punishment of death that is required for all who sin) should impact our behavior, but our behavior has nothing at all to do with the "saving" part. That's all Jesus. How simple and yet how mind-blowing.

Maybe you have accepted the gift of salvation already and you can rejoice with me. Maybe you are like a former student with whom I spoke this week who is in search mode, looking for a truth to live by. Maybe you are among the millions of other people who think that if they are "good" that will be enough to save them in the end. To quote Beth Moore - it will never be enough.

I think about my own life. The years I spent trying to fill a God-sized hole in my heart with teaching. With righteous behavior and in frustration at my inability to act righteously, with sin. It was never enough. It's like trying to sweeten your iced tea with flour (which just makes a goopy iced tea colored mess - don't try it at home). Oh, the difference when I learned to accept the gift Jesus so graciously offered and put it on like a new coat and live in it, roll around in the beauty of it, marvel at the perfection of it and allow it to warm me and change me.

Whoever you are, right here, right now, won't you accept His gift, too? That gift is yours for the taking. No sin, big or small, has the power to separate you from Jesus if you confess it. Truth be told, it's what we were really born to do.