BY GREG MILLER
For about a year, Miss Katrina had been teaching members of her teenage Sunday school class about Old Testament heroes.
Miss Katrina asked members of the class to write essays about the person in the study whom they thought contributed the most to God’s plan of salvation. “In your paper, please give the reason why you believe your selection figured prominently in advancing God’s plan of salvation for the world,” she wrote.
Kara wrote her essay about Abraham. “It’s very easy to see why Abraham played a key role in the advancement of God’s salvation plan,” she wrote. “God thought so much of Abraham’s faith that He called Abraham His friend and Abraham was credited with righteousness because of that faith.”
Kellie chose to write about the prophet Daniel. “He prayed to God three times a day, and because of his faith in the Lord, he was thrown into a lions’ den,” she wrote. “But he stayed true to God, and God protected him through his ordeal.”
Kevin noted that King David was his choice for the person who contributed the most to God’s salvation plan. “David was prone to sin, but he was also willing to admit his sins and ask the Lord for forgiveness,” Kevin wrote.
Although many people would not consider Adam and Eve to be heroes, Kane took a different view. “Adam and Eve committed the first human sins by disobeying God and eating the forbidden fruit,” Kane reasoned. “So, they set in motion the need for an appropriate atoning sacrifice. God made coats of animal skins to cover their nakedness, and animals had to be sacrificed in order for that to happen. That animal sacrifice was a type of the true sacrificial lamb, Jesus Christ, God’s Son, who came into the world to provide salvation for mankind.”
Jonah was Kirby’s essay topic. “He was swallowed alive by some monstrous fish,” Kirby wrote. “That huge whale monster couldn’t even digest the prophet, so after three days the creature vomited Jonah out on dry ground.”
Miss Katrina was impressed with the papers turned in by members of the class, especially the note Kara wrote at the bottom of her paper about Abraham. “Abraham was a friend of God,” Kara wrote. “Since I accepted Jesus into my heart, I’m a friend of God, too. And since Jesus came to earth to die for my sin, I like to think His death on Calvary’s Cross and resurrection from the tomb was a picture perfect Valentine’s Day message that Jesus painted just for me and everyone else whose sins He has forgiven! It was just as if He was saying, ‘Happy Valentine’s Day, Kara.’”
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