Malachi's Salvation Story

Sunday night, January 31st, Malachi and Zach were taking a bath. I was sitting on the closed toilet half watching, half playing around with my iPhone. Malachi took his boat and set people and animals in it for them to go on a boat ride. He then took a cup of water and started dumping it out very near the boat, and during the imagination, he said to me,

"Oh nooo, Mom, look! They are headed right for a waterfall! Aahh!"

"Oh no! I hope they don't drown!" I said, playing along.

Malachi immediately got serious and asked, "What happens if they drown and die?"

I first thought it was pretty mature of him to realize that death comes from drowning. Then I continued,

"Well, if they drown and die, they will go to hell if they don't have Jesus in their hearts, or they will go to heaven if they do."

We have talked a number of times now about the difference between knowing about Jesus verses having Jesus in your heart. I've tried to be simple and plain in my explanations: A lot people know about Jesus, in their heads. But we need to know Jesus in our hearts. That means we love Him, ask Him to forgive our sins, and obey what He commands. We put Jesus first and we want to love, worship, and obey Him always. So he had an understanding of heaven; Who is there (Jesus/God), and how we can be there with Him. But he continued our rather heavy conversation in the tub with,

"What is hell?"

"Well, it's a place that people who don't have Jesus in their hearts go. Bad people go there. The devil is there. Demons are there. It is a scary place. People are getting hurt all the time, crying all the time, and there is always anger and sadness."

I quickly reminded him, "But heaven, Where Jesus is, is always happy, and there is never any crying or being sad."

"I want to go to Heaven then." Malachi said.

"You do?? Well have you asked Jesus into your heart?" I questioned, knowing the answer.

"No."

"Why not?"

"I'm waiting."

"Waiting until what?" I asked, not knowing the answer.

"I'm waiting for Jesus to ask me to come into my heart." He answered (in tone like "Isn't that what I'm suppose to do??")

"Malachi, YOU need ask Jesus into your heart. He won't ask you. Jesus is waiting for YOU to ask!"

"I just did then." He sounded uncertain.

"Oh, what did you say?"

"Well...I didn't really say anything." He admitted.

"Well, if you want to ask Jesus into your heart, you can say, 'Jesus, I'm sorry I have sinned. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins.' "

At this point I heard him repeat (rather eagerly), "Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins.", so I repeated again what I had started to say and he repeated this:

Jesus, I'm sorry I have sinned. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. Please come into my heart and be my Savior. In Jesus' name, Amen.

After he had repeated this simple, simple prayer, he had a most satisfied look on his face. Almost like, "Good. Glad to have accomplished that. Now I don't have to worry about dying!"

He then went back to being a four-year-old in a bathtub full of bubbles and boats and waterfalls. Because it was such a simple prayer, and it was a "Done! Now on to boats!" attitude from Malachi, I was doubting if anything real just happened. Did our young boy really ask Jesus into his heart? Does he understand what just happened? Does he understand what he just prayed? In my doubts and UN-childlike faith, I questioned him,

"Did you just ask Jesus into your heart?"

"Yes." He said said frankly.

"Are you going to heaven?" I again questioned.

"Yes." And off to boats he went, not wanting to be badgered any longer.

Puzzled as to what just happened, (could it be that easy? Can a four year-old understand and really be saved?) I walked out the bathroom door to where Micah was. I told Micah the entire situation and then he said something like, "It's hard to say. I guess so. He probably did." And then reminded me of what a great memory Malachi has. If I ever asked Malachi to 'ask Jesus into his heart' again in the future, Malachi would simply respond, "I did already-in the bathtub." Knowing that, we both kind of shrugged our shoulders and agreed that we guessed our boy got saved that night.

Not having talked about the boats, waterfalls, and salvation in the tub with Malachi since, Malachi surprised us last night (Tuesday night). Still in our doubts, God confirmed to Micah and I what indeed happened Sunday night.

As Malachi and Zach were playing in the living room, with Micah right there and I in the kitchen, Malachi sort of stops the current play and says to Zach,

"Zach I need you to come into the bedroom with me so I can teach you about

God cause you haven't asked God into your heart yet."

As Zach was trying to run the other direction (Hey, he's two. He'll get there!), Malachi yelled, "No Zach! I need to tell you about God!!"

Since Zach was obviously uninterested at this time, off they both went back to brotherly play.

This was our confirmation from God. Malachi remembered. It was real to him. So real, he was now taking the gospel message to his younger brother! He felt confident he knew what he was about to share with Zach; It was something he personally knew. And he had concern for Zach to know too, although it was sort of a 'forceful' concern! :) It was Malachi fulfilling the greatest commandment, "Love the Lord you God with all your heart, mind, soul, strength. And love your neighbor as yourself."

Micah came in the kitchen and relayed the info to me. We both stood there coming to the realization that a four year-old can be saved, and our four year-old is! It seemed so simple to us, especially me, but Micah reminded me that, it IS that simple! It doesn't have to be this deep, long, dramatic experience. It can be a simple prayer in a bathtub! And for Malachi Allen Harpel, it WAS a simple prayer in the bathtub! It is child-like faith. Malachi has child-like faith; After-all, he is a child! It is simple. Micah had said, "Malachi has the faith that if I said, 'This mountain is in our way and we need it to be moved, Son. You can ask Jesus to move it, and He will!" Malachi would believe it 100%, and immediately ask Jesus to move it-and expect to see it move! The problem with this scenario would be US getting the faith to even tell Malachi that it can be moved! I think Malachi could teach us a few things...

Later that same night, I asked Malachi,"Are you going to heaven?"

As confident as ever he responded, "Yes."

Yes, he is. We believe it. We believe you Jesus. And now Malachi believes You too. You have our son's heart--forever!