Weeds
Weeds in the lawn are like sins in our lives, they're destructive.
by Martin Ellgar, Entergrace.org
TOPICS:Disobedience, Forgiveness, Grace, Sin MATERIALS:A few fresh weeds DURATION:Approximately 10 minutes |
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PREPARATION:
Cut seven or more various lengths of green crepe paper. The crepe paper lengths should be long enough to be easily draped over your shoulders and hang down to about your waist or tied around your head.
WHAT YOU WILL SAY:
(Pull out a weed from the bag.) What kind of plant this is? (Allow for answers.) Yes, it is a weed. I have not been doing any gardening for awhile, and yesterday I noticed that my wonderful green lawn was nearly covered with weeds. It no longer looks like a lawn. (Pull out the other weeds to show the variety of weeds found in the lawn.) Weeds can cover the grass, they can kill the grass and they can change the lawn into a nasty weed patch. It can happen quickly, especially when you don’t look after your lawn.
Jesus talks about weeds in the Bible. Weeds are like sins in our life, but these are weeds you can’t see, they are inside us. (Take one of the crepe paper strips and hold it up for the class to see.) I have a pretend weed, and I’m going to call it, ‘worry’. Yes, it is a sin to worry. (Drape that weed over your shoulder, so that it becomes part of you. Repeat the process with as many strips of paper as you can. Cover your shoulders, arms, and especially your head.) The weeds could be called various things, such as stealing, yelling at your parents, not listening to the teacher, hating someone, making someone else cry, and so on.
The weeds in my life have changed me, look at me, you can hardly see who I am. Some people may think I’m just a big nasty weed. The weeds have changed me, and I feel terrible. There is good news. Jesus can take away the weeds in our life. Every time you pray to Jesus to forgive you, He takes away a weed. (Ask for forgiveness for each of the sins that you named while draping the crepe paper around yourself, as you do so - peel off the strips of crepe paper.)
With all the weeds gone, then Jesus and everyone else can clearly see the beautiful person that you really are.
Finish with prayer:
"Dear Jesus, thank you for loving us and taking care of us everyday, please take away the weeds in our life, so that we can grow into the person that you have made. Amen."