Today one of my friends asked me a question that I think would be good to write to you (at Element) about. My friend and his wife got some chickens (just a couple, not a whole farm) to be able to produce eggs and teach their daughters a bit about caring for farm animals. Over the last few days it has been bitterly cold over night (by “bitterly” I mean under 30 degrees). When he went out to see the chickens this morning the smallest one, Sunflower, was dead.
 
Sunflower was one of those chickens that ended up as the runt, skinny, small, but with a great personality. It would run up to you, hang out with you, and even sit in your lap when you were in the back yard…but Sunflower was also the weakest chicken in the bunch. My friend asked me how to talk about death to his 6-year-old daughter. Does he tell her Sunflower is in heaven?
 
I thought this was a perfect teachable moment for a father to talk about the truth of the Gospel with his daughter. I told him that he needs to talk about death in a real way, a way that doesn’t minimize what happened to Sunflower, and then help his daughter to understand that the pain she feels is hatred toward death and sin.
 
I said the he should explain that in school they will try to teach her that death is just a natural part of the “circle of life,” but the truth is that the pain she feels proves that it isn’t. Death is our enemy, we despise death, and we hate death because death is the result of sin. I told him that he then gets to talk about the greatness of Jesus because Jesus died and rose to defeat death for His people. Though our bodies may still be decaying, Jesus saves us for eternal life.
 
1 Corinthians 15:53-58 reminds us:

For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

 
Through the death of Sunflower, the Gospel gets to be proclaimed; it’s helps his daughter not only understand the vileness of sin, but also the strength, majesty, and love of Jesus who died the death we should have died to give us His life.
 
My friend then asked if he should tell his daughter that Sunflower is in heaven, I laughed and said, “we have no way to know that.” I said the Scriptures are clear that Jesus loved Sunflower because Sunflower was one of His creatures, but that Jesus loves His daughter more and that is what she needs to know.
 
Death doesn’t have to be something Christians run from, it can be the perfect opportunity to help our kids understand that greatness of Jesus...because Jesus IS great!