The Seriousness of Sin

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Want to Tell Somebody?

Many children tend to categorise sin into big sins (e.g. murder) and little sins (e.g. a lie). Here are two illustrations you could use to help them understand that in God’s sight all sin is serious.

a. Hold in one hand a crumpled piece of paper, and in the other a small but heavy object (e.g. a battery). Tell the children that the paper represents what many people think of as little sins like lying and swearing, and that the heavy object represents what many think of as big sins like murder and robbery. State that you are going to drop both objects to the floor at the same time. Ask the children which object they think will reach the floor first? Most should say the heavy object.

Drop both objects. They will reach the floor at the same time. (You may wish to repeat the exercise). State that sin is like that to God. The lighter or smaller sins are just as serious to Him as the weightier ones, for all wrongdoing is sin (1 John 5 v. 17).

b. Ask the children to imagine that both they and you are going to take a maths test where the pass mark is 100%. State that they – being really clever – get a mark of 98%, but that you – being not too good at maths – only manage 2%.

Ask the children how you have done – passed or failed? You have failed.
Ask the children how they have done – passed or failed? They also have failed.

Explain that although the children did much better than you in this imaginary test, they still failed. State that in life some people have led really led really bad lives and, rather like getting a mark of two out of a hundred, fall far short of God’s standard, which is perfection. State that other people (give a few examples) have led wonderful lives, but no matter how good they have been they still come short of God’s standard. Most people come somewhere between these two extremes, but the good news of the Gospel is that one man, Jesus, did lead a perfect life and reach God’s standard. The even better news is that Jesus did it for us, and then died on the cross in our place, so that we could be forgiven – no matter how short of God’s standard we have come.

by Maurice Sweetsur, http://objectlessons.blogspot.com/