good for how long?

Sunday School went well. Although I discovered an interesting fact about children's beliefs, even (especially?) well-taught children.

When I asked them "Can we make ourselves good?" there was an almost unanimous "Yes!" (One boy also had an endearingly stubborn conviction that bad trees could make themselves good.)

And when I challenged them - "Have you managed to be good for a whole day? How about a week? No whinging, no disobeying, no tiny lies?" I had to push it out to "a year" before one of the boys would admit he wasn't good the whole time.

In other words, children are no different to the rest of us: blind to our sin, and convinced of our ability to do good. And just as in need of having God open our eyes, so we can see how helpless we are without God's grace.