“The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” Genesis 6:5

The Jigsaw Puzzle was out on the coffee table where Katie and I could ‘puzzle’ at our leisure. Last night we were anticipating a WONDERFUL evening with our daughter Calah and her family of 5. Spaghetti was on the menu and all was right with the world. We even figured that Calah and Charles would probably like to tinker with the puzzle as well, since that is also one of THEIR hobbies. Little did we know!

My 3 grandchildren through Charles and Calah are SUCH a joy and a blessing. From ages ‘almost 5’ down to 6+ months old, their laughter filled the house. Toys were pulled from the closet and noises that accompany each item… from Race Car driver to Cowboy Gunslinger… filled the house! Just LISTENING to them play brought smiles to my heart.

They’d been here for over an hour and dinner was over. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw him. And what he was doing was so shocking, it didn’t even register at first. Case, my 3 year old protege, was pretending to be a front-end loader as he shoveled all the puzzle pieces together into 1 pile! When I realized what he was doing, I hollered out his name! The look on his face was priceless.

I had written before that a puzzle is only enjoyable WHILE it is being put together. Except for a few sections that remained intact, Katie and I were going to have to start our ‘fun’ all over again… from the beginning. The whole thing was so shocking as to be hilarious. Correcting him, while we were all snickering, Calah tried to convince him that what he had done was wrong.

About 20 minutes later, as Charles and I sat 4 feet from him, Case reached over to UN-puzzle one of the only remaining sections. I called his name…’Case!’ He never looked and kept pushing. I called a little louder…’CASE’ as his dad started the countdown…’ONE’! His face reflected his actions, and when he didn’t stop… I whistled LOUDLY to shock him into reality! His dad grabbed him! He was a portrait of rebellion!

Where does evil come from and at what point in life does it show? I believe that what we believe about the answer to that question, actually matters! I KNOW what God says about it, as it is written in the Bible. Man’s heart is evil from birth. And being evil, man DOES evil. Even from a tender age of 3 (or 6+months). If we know that, we can start the process of redemption with our children EARLY.

Now before you cry foul, understand that Case KNEW what he was doing. But he CHOSE to keep DOING IT! And here is the thing that convicted me… I do the VERY same thing! EVERY TIME I SIN!

Do you?

Thank God we have a HEAVENLY Father!