"Miss, is it true that when I die i'll become a star in the sky?"

With year 7 we do a 'bible overview'. Over the last couple of lessons we've been looking at the amazing promises God made to Abraham. Today we looked at the event, where God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. As the students were completing an activity, a student raised her hand. So, I went over to see her, expecting her to tell me she'd finished or that she wanted to go to the toilet. I certainly wasn't expecting the question that came; "Miss, is it true that when I die I'll become a star in the sky?" She looked very serious. I knew this was a question to handle with care, this morning in assembly the students were told that a local primary teacher had died over Christmas. I replied, "That's a very good question, what made you think of that?" She looked at me as if it was an obvious question and said something along the lines of, "Well, I was just thinking about Isaac and where he'd go if he God hadn't stopped Abraham from killing him, my Mum says when you die you become a star in the sky!" Although she didn't say that she was thinking about life and death because someone she'd known had died, I knew I had to be careful. I didn't want her to think I thought her Mum was talking rubbish and I wanted her to see that what I said was from the Bible, not something that I'd made up on the spot to keep her quiet.

My rushed reply went something like this:

• When I want to know whether something is true or not I look in the Bible. Do you remember that when we look at what the Bible is, we discovered that Christians believe that the bible is God words written down for us? Do you remember that we said that God never lies? So I go to the Bible because I know I will always find truth in the Bible. And as creator of the world, God is an excellent source to find out about what happens when we die!
• Can you remember the punishments that God gave to Adam and Eve because they didn't do what God said? One of them was that they were no longer living in Gods land, under his rule and life would no longer be perfect. And do you remember the promises that God gave to Abraham? God promised that one day Abraham would have a really big family, that God would give him a brilliant land and that he would be blessed because God would be the ruler? Well, I'll give you a sneak preview into what we're going to learn soon. 
• We had a very quick look at what Hebrews 11 said about Abraham and his faith. We then looked at Hebrews 11:16: ^'Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.' I tried to point out that the promise that God made for Abraham is completely fulfilled in heaven, a new creation, a land where things will only be good all the time. We also looked at Hebrews 11:39-40: 'These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.'
• God says that people who have faith in him and his son Jesus (because Jesus took the punishment for sin on the cross), will go to this perfect place. And this place is even better than being a star in the sky, its a real place and will be amazing. So we looked at Revelation 21:1-5, 'Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.  I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”' She agreed that life in 'heaven' would be brilliant and that this promise, originally given to Abraham was ace... not just because Abraham was a really old man!
• She then asked me if people became stars when they got there. So we looked at this passage again and saw that God says people will be there.  
• She then asked me whether she would be there. I told her that if she wanted to be certain of being a person in this perfect place in a perfect relationship with God, we'd better see who God says would be there. So we turned to John 3:36. 

She concluded that she'd rather go to 'heaven' as a person than face God's forever punishment. However, she said she'd have to think about it as it sounded too good to be true! She was very serious and very sweet. It was such a joy to have this conversation with her, certainly better than being asked if she could go to the toilet! Its also encouraging that she's thinking about what happens when 'you' die, and wanting to know what's true and what's not true. I'm praying that God would use our conversation and that one day soon she'd be trusting in Jesus.

Teaching can be hard work, but its such a joy to meet students like this one, and having the privilege of talking about the gospel.