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The scripture tells us to teach our children in the way in which they should go, and they will not depart from it. That is one of the things Dylan and I strive to do with our children. We don’t normally attend Sunday church like most Christians do. We will typically stay home, celebrate Saturday Sabbath and watch Beth Yeshua International online or attend fellowship. You can read more and understand our faith with our statement of faith.
In not attending Sunday Church means our children aren’t attending “Sunday School”. So, that leaves us, their parents to teach them. We come up with different lessons each week. We teach different bible stories or life lessons tying in scripture. Sometimes we ask the kids if there is a story they want to study and go from there.
How the Choices You Make MATTER
The concept of free will is addressed in scripture, which suggests that humans have the ability to make choices in their lives. Scripture presents various verses that show the existence of free will, such as: 1 Corinthians 10:13, Galatians 5:13, & Joshua 24:15. Free will is the power to decide what you will do in a certain situation. We can look at one of the first stories in scripture with Adam and Eve. They’re told “The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” They were told what not to do, eat the fruit. Yet when we continue reading, we find them doing the opposite and eating from the tree. Consequences soon followed their action.
(Read Genesis 2-3)
It is still the same for us today. We can choose to do right or do wrong.
QUESTION: We are all free to make choices. What are some choices you made today?
ANSWER: Let the child give you, their answers. Examples could be picked out their clothes, made their bed, listened/didn’t listen to their parents, etc.
DISCUSSION: Some of the choices we make in life have little effect on our future. In the long run, it probably won’t matter if you wore a certain shirt or braid in your hair today. But, some choices will change the course of your entire life. They are life changing moments. Like, when you decide to (add in age-appropriate choices) say no to drugs or alcohol. Or, when you choose to turn or look away from a bad movies or photograph. Other examples would be what job you’ll do when you grow up or even who you’ll marry someday. Those choices are IMPORTANT.
Yeshua/Jesus tells us “The eye is the lamp of the body; so, then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” What we allow ourselves to watch and listen to can feed our soul and heart. Our friendships even matter! Some friends aren’t really GOOD friends. They can even shape our actions. We need to be mindful of what we give our time and attention too. Also, who we’re around each day.
Items you’ll need for this lesson:
1) Bible
2) Clear containers/jar for each child
3) Water
4) Food Coloring
5) Clean up materials – towel or baby wipes
Take clear containers and fill them with water. We choose glass jars. This jar represents our life. The water inside is clear and pure. We get to decide what color our life is going to be!
Let your child choose what color they want their water to be, using the food coloring. You can take this time to explain how when you mix different colors you’ll create a single color. Examples would be:
red + blue = purple, yellow + blue = green, red + yellow = orange. Have fun with it!
Your child’s cup will end up a dark murky mess. This is what you’re looking for.
God/Yahweh knew that we wouldn’t always be able to make good choices on our own. We are not perfect and can never be. It is easy to make mistakes. Once we add a little bit of sin (food coloring) to our colorful life, it turns dark and yucky. We don’t want to stay like that. We want to repent and ask for forgiveness. That’s where we have Yeshua/Jesus.
We are all sinners and in need of salvation (color cleaning). However, God/Yahweh sent Yeshua/Jesus, his one and only son to die on the cross for our sins, and through belief in Yeshua/Jesus, we can be saved and spend eternity with God/Yahweh in heaven. This salvation is not earned through good works or personal righteousness but is a free gift from God/Yahweh.
When we repent for our bad choices (sin) and try to make better ones, then our lives become clean again. Repentance is asking for forgiveness and turning away from sin. Sin are the things/actions that go against the laws of God/Yahweh. “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.” Lawlessness means being without God’s laws.
When we repent, we’re able to start from scratch. We want true repentance. Meaning when you’re really sorry and feel bad for the choices you make. Yeshua/Jesus comes in and cleans us. He makes us NEW! Have the children dump out their dirty water, rise their cup and refill it with clean water.
DISCUSSION: Yeshua/Jesus died for our sins. We’ve been made new through his sacrifice and love for us. (Read Hebrews 10:10) He gave us the Holy Spirit to help fill and guide us. (Read John 14:15-31)
Our body is now a temple and we’re filled with the Holy Spirit. We can read the bible, pray, listen to our parents and Pastors to help lead and guide us to walk as Yeshua/Jesus walked.
We want to do our best to follow after Yeshua/Jesus and make GOOD choices. It’s okay, if we mess up. We just ask Yeshua/Jesus for forgiveness. Know that no matter what choices you make, you’re loved, wanted, valued and chosen by God/Yahweh. He created you for HIS purpose.
CHOICES OBJECT LESSON CONCLUSION
The purpose of this activity is to demonstrate that we are free to choose the color, but once the drops hit the water, we cannot choose the outcome. Yellow drops make yellow water. Blue drops make blue water. Red drops make red. We must choose to use the colors that create the kind of water that we desire. When we mess up and have murky dark water, we can ask Yeshua/Jesus to make us clean again. That he loves us unconditionally and desires to have a relationship with us. He wants us to make GOOD choices to love others and love God/Yahweh.
Worship Playlist:
We hope you enjoy this lesson! That your children have fun exploring with different colors and understanding that despite the ugly colors they can be made clean again and forgiven by Yeshua/Jesus.
“Train a child in the way he [should] go; and, even when old, he will not swerve from it.” – Proverbs 22:6
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