How are Christians like Amphibians? I asked the twins this question today. They knew the answer. We start out as one kind of creature and become something different.
Then I had them get their Bibles and look up the following verses. We read each one and talked about how God has made us into something totally new, but how we have a part in becoming more like Him by renewing our minds. They found out that we renew our minds by reading, studying, meditating and speaking the Word of God. We replace our thoughts with God’s thoughts.
We also discussed again how we become born again. We talked about the day they prayed and asked Jesus to be the Lord of their lives. It was about 2 years ago. Their spirits were made alive and alert and able to connect with God through His Holy Spirit.
They learned that God has forgotten their sins, the main one being stealing candy, even though we haven’t forgotten and remind them of it frequently. One Easter morning, about 7 years ago, when the twins were only 2 years old, I had put out candy on the dining table for all of the kids to surprise them. I didn’t have baskets or anything. We couldn’t even afford candy, so a friend gave us some. When we got up that morning and went out to the kitchen, the twins had all of the candy down on the floor and were just polishing off the last of it.
So they have had a hard time living that down. They wish they had never done it now. I explained that God has forgotten their sins as if they were buried at the bottom of the deepest ocean or they were removed as far as the east is from the west. They were relieved. I think they would be relieved if the rest of us would forget their sins, too.
Jesus answered him, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that unless a person is born again (anew, from above), he cannot ever see (know, be acquainted with, and experience) the kingdom of God.
John 3:3
Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].
Romans 12:2
And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:18
Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!
2 Corinthians 5:17
For neither is circumcision [now] of any importance, nor uncircumcision, but [only] a new creation [the result of a new birth and a new nature in Christ Jesus, the Messiah].
Galatians 6:15
I used these verses to help the twins understand how we are changed into new creations when we make Jesus Lord of our lives.
I didn’t have them read from the Amplified, but I plan to do this tomorrow. It explains the concepts so thoroughly.
They read from their own Bibles, which I got for them for Easter this year. Fiona’s Bible is the New King James translation and Garrett’s is the New International Reader’s Version.
And this is what the tadpoles look like today:
The red spots on the sides might be where the lungs are developing. That’s what Katie theorizes.
If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see that it looks like something is developing there. I would guess it would most likely be lungs.
You can see their big eyes now.
I thought this was a cute shot of this tadpole.
It’s so fun to see the phases of transformation of these tadpoles. In some ways, they seem to be changing slowly, but then lots of changes have to be made for them to become totally new creatures.
Kind of like us.
"Oh that God would give every mother a vision of the glory and splendor of the work that is given to her when a babe is placed in her bosom to be nursed and trained! Could she have but one glimpse in to the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity; could she look into its soul to see its possibilities; could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of this child, for the development of its life, and for its destiny,--she would see that in all God's world there is no other work so noble and so worthy of her best powers, and she would commit to no other's hands the sacred and holy trust given to her." -JR Miller
