Faith and Family Fun Friday: Jesus + Me = New Life
For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.
-Hebrews 4:12
Welcome to Family Faith and Fun Fridays! As the week winds down and I anticipate more family time over the weekend, I often ask God for one good idea that will enable me to bring the Word to life and bring our family together. Usually, the activity overflows out of something the Lord has been teaching me through His Word during the week. I’d like to invite you to join me and my family in the adventure. Sometimes I’ll post things we’ve tried; other times I’ll post an idea in the works. If you’ve got thoughts to add or suggestions on how to adapt or improve the activity, please don’t hesitate to comment. Enjoy!
A Change of Heart
Last week as I was reading through Paul’s writings in 2 Corinthians I stumbled on a verse I wanted to share with the kids:
Anyone who believes in Christ is a new creation. The old is gone! The new has come 2 Corinthians 5:17
I love the way these words remind us that we are NOT who we were.
That woman who gets crabby and impatient and snippy with her husband? She’s on the way out, thanks to Christ.
The mom who struggles to truly trust God with her children’s lives? She’s packed her bags and is letting Christ fill her soul-suitcase with faith and peace.
My kids need to know that they aren’t stuck in their sin, too. Jesus is making them into someone far different than their flawed and fallen identities.
I decided that a simple object lesson might be best to sketch this Word on their hearts.
So, I handed my little ones a small bit of yellow play doh and a small bit of blue play doh.
Then I explained: “This blue play doh is us without Jesus. Our hearts feel blue because we’re sinners, and we just can’t be good on our own. Sin leaves us feeling yucchy inside- crabby and mean and messed up.
But this yellow play doh is Jesus. He is God’s PERFECT SON, the Light of the World. Jesus is perfect love, perfect peace, perfect joy. He is the only One who IS good all the time.
They played with the doh and I asked, “What happens when we invite Jesus to be our forever friend? What happens to our blue and sinful hearts when the golden SON of God moves into our lives?”
At this point, I asked the kids to put the two balls of play doh together and begin to knead the doh. They squeezed and squeezed until- ta-da! The blue play doh turned green.
“Do you see what happened? Jesus the Golden Son plus your blue heart makes new green life. This is what happens to us when we say yes to Jesus. He takes our old yucchy hearts and turns them into something new and beautiful!”
After the kids oohed and ahhed over the “magic transformation” of that squishy doh in their hands, we opened our Bibles and read 2 C or 5:17 together.
Then we prayed that Jesus would continue to make us into new and beautiful creations!
Got play doh? Why not use it to bring the Word to life this weekend?
Here’s our favorite recipe for making the squishy stuff…
Play Doh
2 C. Flour1C. salt
4tsp cream of tartar
2C water2TBS. oil
Food coloring
Mix flour, salt, and cream of tartar. Add water and oil. Heat until it forms lumps. Then take off heat and knead and cool. Add food coloring. Divide the dough to make different colors. Keep in tightly sealed container.
Have a marvelous weekend, friends!
Absolutely perfect!!! Love it!!
Theresa,
These “great ideas” are the outpouring of a crazy brain… used to feel like it was burden- praise God for taking my nutty imagination and turning it into something He can use! Love how He’s gifted us all so differently. I always wanted to sing beautifully like you. The world is glad I’ve chosen not to put my words to music:) But oh, how I wanted to be a “famous singer!”- practiced on the stage of my living room for years with my sister 🙂
So cool! I’m going to have to try this. Where do you get all of your great ideas??
What a great idea! Will definitely do this with my seven year old. 🙂
What a creative way to share God’s truths to children! I sent the link to my daughter. I hope God uses this over and over.
What a great idea! Thanks for the tip.
Keep up the God work.
Perfect! I wish I had some kids to teach this lesson to! Patsy from
HeARTworks