Firefighter Gear, Sweaters, Running Shoes and Aspirin + Object Lesson: Repentance

  

My job as the “gospel teacher” for VBS for a few years was to end our class each day with a clear presentation of one of the foundational elements of coming to faith in Christ. The focus of the final day was always the necessity of translating what we know to active belief. One particular approach to this lesson was so effective and so adaptable to nearly any situation that I have used it many times since.

The first version of this idea involved firefighting. I came to class with a fire extinguisher, a section of garden hose and a fireman’s hat and coat in tow. I put the coat on my head and used the hose as a belt and carried the hat like a bucket. The children quickly reacted to this crazy arrangement! We eventually got things sorted out and moved on.

Another time I had my sweater nearby and commented that I was cold. I talked about sweaters and how warm they are and that it was a good thing I had mine with me.

“But I’m still cold!” I complained.

The children urged, “Put it on!”

So I did – on one of them! That still wasn’t right, and we kept trying until I had my own sweater on me and felt warmer.

Similarly, having everything you need to run well or having medicine for a sickness will do no good if the essential supplies are not put to their intended use. This basic idea can be demonstrated with meals that must be eaten to satisfy hunger, trips that never happen if they are only planned, etc.

Complete the lesson with the application that all we learn about Jesus at VBS or Sunday School or Children’s Church or at home will do us no good if we never act on what we know. Knowing the Bible says Jesus was born the Son of God to live a perfect life and to die and come alive again to pay for the sins of those who put their trust in Him does not save us. Saving faith trusts what we know the Bible says about Jesus to be true and commits us to believing in Him as our Savior in the deepest places of our hearts. Saving faith treasures Jesus so much we no longer want to treasure sin.

Active knowledge aims the fire hose at the fire, puts on the sweater, runs the race, takes the medicine. Active, saving faith responds to the truth we know about Jesus by turning to Him in repentance and embracing Him as our only hope for “a new heart” and “a new spirit” that will love and treasure Him.



OBJECT LESSON: Repentance

 

To help children understand what it is to repent, what “repentance” means, you can use a set of nesting boxes. Heart-shaped boxes are especially good, but any nesting containers will serve the purpose, and, in a pinch, you can cut a set of concentric paper hearts. Use whichever object you’ve been able to obtain to show that to “repent” means to be sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry to the deepest places in our heart. Unstack the boxes or cut-outs, from largest to smallest, as you repeat the word “sorry” to simulate a deep sense of regret.

Contrast this kind of sorry to the casual “sorry” we offer easily when we step on a toe or bump someone in line. Compare it to the sorry we say when we are told to apologize, and we mechanically repeat words we don’t mean. Discuss that wishing we had not been caught doing wrong is another kind of sorry that is not repentance. Sometimes we feel disappointed with our choices or we feel shame for doing or saying a wrong thing, but this, also, is not repentance, and while it is important to replace what we’ve broken or return a stolen item, these actions may be carried out without repenting at all.

Repentance is informed by what we know and may involve our feelings, but genuine repentance must include Bible-prescribed action. To repent is to turn from walking our own way, from living a “me first” life, to walking the opposite direction in a lifelong parade of obedience to God and His Word. It is to follow and love and honor and trust in Jesus and treasure Him above everything else. And, amazingly, repentance is a free gift of God to all who ask and seek and knock!