Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Too Good to Be True

The room quickly filled with rambunctious 2nd graders. Each bouncing off their seat in their own way. Impatience was high. For both Sunday School teachers and students. 30 minutes each week we attempt to grab the attention of these faces. 30 minutes each week we try to hurriedly explain how great God is and how much He loves them. All while trying to get these 8 kids to oh-for-the-love-of-pete-would-you-just-sit-down-and-stop-talking-don't-touch-your-neighbor-and-listen?! *ahem* Or something like that.

We tried something different.



We set the jar on the table. A plain old mason jar, half full with clean water.

This was what God created. Pure. Clean. Unpolluted. Without Sin

 Adam & Eve sinned...
The Israelites sinned...
 
 You and I sinned...
 The world was dark. No light was shining.

God sent His Son. The cleaning agent...
 He died on the cross...
 He washes away our sin....

 We are new creations. Clean. White as snow.
We have been washed by the blood of the Lamb. Fully. Completely.

Our water was pretty dark that first day. We each put a drop of sin in the jar. We had a lot of washing to do. We promised to leave the jar at church in our classroom until the next week.
The next week, they gathered around. Eager. Yes, eager.
"What happened to our black water?!"

Eyes grew wide as we pulled the jar out to show them: "You switched it!" "There's no way! That water was black, it couldn't be that clear now!"

"Isn't that what Christ did for us? Didn't He turn our black hearts into something pure?"

"Yeah... but...I just don't believe it could be true..."

Do YOU believe it? Do you believe that Christ could take your very blackest heart, the very deepest darkest sin you've committed, and wash it away completely?
It really does sound too good to be true.
But it isn't.


By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 1Corinthians 15:2-4





8 comments:

Bina said...

Call me a child, but even I sat in awe just now. With a tear and a grateful smile, my heart cries: Amen!

(Gonna tell my SSTeaching hubby about that one!!)

Marissa said...

I was watching like I was right there in that classroom with them :) Beautiful demonstration of showing such an IMPORTANT lesson, we should all think about MORE.
good post!!! made me smile!

Karen said...

That is a great demonstration! I love that! Great post.

Melinda said...

Alicia! I LOVE this ... what a great picture of what Jesus did for us. My teenage daughter and I are going to be teaching a K-1st grade class together starting after the holidays and I'm going to remember this illustration. Oh, and I read your last post about Diane. I love Diane! She's awesome!

Wendy said...

Very cool! I love these kind of visuals for kids ~ young and old :)

Laura@OutnumberedMom said...

What a great object lesson! Great way to capture preschoolers. This is the kind of stuff they remember. Bless you for working with those little wiggleworms!

Jennifer @ JenniferDukesLee.com said...

Wow! Beautiful lesson. I'd love to use this in our Sunday school this month. Thank you, thank you for sharing!

Michelle DeRusha said...

This is an amazingly powerful and visual lesson -- I love it. I'm going to have to use it with my boys!