Three In One

‘Mom, a kid at school started an argument saying that Christians worship three gods,” Tina said, frowning. She poked a finger into the flour that Mom had measured into the big yellow bowl.

‘That’s not true,” Mom said, measuring oil. ‘We serve one God who is a Trinity, which means that God has three persons or forms.”

‘We learned about the Trinity at church,” Tina said, ‘but it’s hard to understand.”

‘It is difficult,” Mom agreed, turning to get eggs out of the fridge. ‘Theology is hard; that’s why we need faith to believe God’s Word.”

‘Yeah, but three in one—that’s really hard to imagine!” Tina exclaimed.

‘Not really,” Mom answered. ‘Look there.” Her finger pointed to the steaming teakettle on the stove. A wavering vapor of steam trailed up from the spout. Tina’s face looked blank.

‘Water has three forms,” Mom said, breaking an egg into a bowl. ‘Liquid, steam, and ice; but we still say it is water, right?”

Tina nodded.

‘Each form has a special purpose,” Mom went on. ‘When we need steam for an engine, ice won’t help us much, will it?”

‘Nope!” Tina said, shaking her head.

‘Then there’s an egg,” Mom said, cracking another one. ‘We have the shell that we can separate from the soft parts inside.” Egg white dripped into the bowl from half an eggshell where the shiny yolk still swam in the remainder. ‘We can separate the yolk from the white,” she said, doing so. ‘We have three parts, but we call it all an egg, right?”

‘Right,” Tina said, ‘three in one!”

‘Other people describe the Trinity, or the Godhead, comparing it to a family with a father, a mother, and a child. Our family goes by Hamblin, identifying us as a family unit,” Mom continued. ‘We speak of God, the Father; God, the Son; and God, the Holy Spirit—kind of like a family. Each Person of the Godhead has His special work or responsibilities, just as members of a family do.”

‘What are they?” Tina asked.

‘Well, the Father rules the world. He formed the laws that regulate the world,” Mom explained, ‘just as your father keeps order here at home. The Father is the Judge. The Bible says, ‘It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God’ (Hebrews 10:31, NIV). When we break His laws, because He is just, we will have to reap the consequences, if we don’t repent.” Mom poured frothy egg into the flour and added some milk. ‘Because He loves us, too, and is merciful, He made the plan for salvation, asking His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins.”

‘Jesus obeyed,” Tina said, remembering another Bible lesson.

Mom nodded, turning out her dough. ‘Imagine how hard it was for the Father to ask His only Son to die and take all the sins of every person in the world!”

‘Yeah!” Tina said, frowning thoughtfully. After a minute she asked, ‘What does the Holy Spirit do?”

‘The Holy Spirit is your Comforter. He is also your Teacher, reminding you of the Scripture verses you have read and studied, and helping you to apply them to your personal situation,” Mom replied with a smile. ‘We are never alone because the Holy Spirit is with us every day. Isn’t that wonderful?”

Tina nodded and fingered an egg in the carton. ‘Mmm,” she agreed. ‘Thanks, Mom. I’ll tell that to my friend at school. Maybe it will help her to understand Three in One better, too.”