When Good Tastes Bad: A Good Friday Devotion for Tween Girls is from a series of Good Friday devotions and is ideally appropriate to read to/with girls ages 9 to 12.  There is also a Good Friday devo for girls ages 4-8, one for teens (ages 13-18), and one for moms, all to prepare our hearts for Good Friday, and, ultimately, Resurrection Sunday.  Please come back for these other devos and share!  Download the printable version here. Please note that this download has my old website information on it.

When Good Tastes Bad: A Good Friday Devotion for Tween Girls

Do you ever eat dinner and like everything about the meal…except that one pile of vegetables?  Everything else is delicious, but you keep hoping if you close your eyes, that lonely mound of veggies will just disappear?

When I was a kid, peas were always the last thing on my plate.  I hid them under my napkin or spread them around my plate to look like I ate some.

So why did mom give me peas when I thought they tasted bad?  Because, as moms like to say, “They’re good for you.”

So let’s talk about things that taste bad.

As a baby, your mom protected you from things that tasted bad because they ARE bad for you, like liquid cleaners under the sink.  And if you’ve ever eaten food that’s been in the refrigerator too long, it tastes bad!  Chances are, it’s old and will make you sick.  These are things that taste bad and ARE bad.

But sometimes things that are good for you taste bad.  Those veggies may not taste like as pizza, but they are full of vitamins.  Or how about that nasty medicine you drink when you have the flu?  It tastes terrible, but it helps your body heal.  Sometimes good tastes bad.

Do you know why this Friday is special?

It’s Good Friday and it’s a day that is special for Christians.  We think about God’s son Jesus who came to earth and lived a perfect life.  He healed sick people, was compassionate, shared God’s truth, and more.

Then on Good Friday, Jesus showed just how much he loved us.  Jesus was made fun of, whipped, and nailed to a wooden cross.  There he hung, alone, until he died. And he did it for you and me.

That sounds like a “Bad Friday”, not a “Good Friday”, doesn’t it?

Yes.  People who love Jesus are very sad on Good Friday.  We think about how much Jesus suffered for us.  We think about our own sins (our bad actions, words, and thoughts) and how Jesus did nothing wrong.

We read in our Bible about his compassion for poor people and his love for others…then a few chapters later read about him being betrayed by his friends and dying on the cross.   For Jesus, this definitely looks like a “Bad Friday”.

But remember when we were talking about things that taste bad?

There are things that taste bad and ARE bad for us (like poison or old food).  Then there are things that taste bad, but are good for us.

Good Friday is one of those things that tastes bad.  It makes us look at our own sins…how we disrespect our mom, are mean to our brother or sister, or tell a lie. Good Friday makes us cry when we think of our friend Jesus dying in pain, alone.  It all “tastes” so very, very bad.

Good Friday may “taste” bad, but it’s ultimately good.

In fact, it’s VERY good! Our souls are “sick” with sin and just like bad-tasting cough syrup heals our body, Jesus’ terrible death is our “medicine” for sin! His very bad day became the best thing for us. So although it was terrible and it hurt Jesus and hurts us to think about it, Good Friday is indeed good.

But how did Jesus death take care of our sin?

That’s a great question! Did you know God, the one who created us, is holy and set apart from us?  We can’t get close to him on our own.  Our sins keep us separate from him.  And there’s no nice words to say, things we can do, or money to pay what we owe.  So we must be separate from God.

But when Jesus lived his perfect life, his death on the cross was the payment to God for our sins.  It’s as if God said to you, “Your sin is keeping you from me.  You can’t do anything about that, but I can.” So he sent his son Jesus to pay for it with his life.  What an amazing payment!

And all we need to do is repent of our sins and believe in Jesus to be saved!  Then we can have a relationship with God, both here and in heaven!  We don’t have to be apart from him anymore!

But Good Friday wasn’t the end!

Jesus didn’t stay dead.  He was resurrected!  He’s so powerful that he came back to life and he’s alive today, just like you!  That’s why we celebrate Easter–Jesus won over death and sin!  And Easter isn’t the end either.

This story continues as God uses YOU for his kingdom to share Jesus with others until Jesus comes back!  God wants to use you, just as he made you, to reach those who don’t know him yet.  What a special job you have and what an amazing celebration!

So the next time you’re sitting at dinner with a pile of veggies, think about how Jesus’ death may have “tasted” bad, but ended up being so very good, both today and forever.

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit…” 1 Peter 3:18

Prayer:  God, I am sinful and there’s nothing I can do to pay for it.  But I thank you so much for your son Jesus.  He died for me to pay for my sins.  Help me to share this truth with others.  I can’t wait for him to come back!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.