Forgiving Challenge Kids: The 11-Day Forgiveness AdventureSample

The Mess Up (Sin)

Did you know that as you play games on your device, many gaming apps will get easier if you keep losing and get more complicated for you if you keep winning? To keep kids playing games, they want you to feel like you can sometimes win but also want to make the game challenging for you. Because of how much games change depending on your skill level, it's hard to know who is really good or bad after all.

In the Bible, it's easy to see where we stand before God.

Romans 3:10-11 says: There is no one righteous, not even one…all have turned away…there is no one who does good, not even one.

Sin means "to miss the mark." It's like trying to hit the bullseye on a dartboard. Except the bullseye is being perfect ALL. THE. TIME. Not one little miss. If you are anything else other than perfect, even if it's just a little off, that's a sin.

Whether you are just outside the line or way off the board entirely, you still missed the bullseye. That's the same as sin. The Bible explains it like this:

You can't pick and choose in these things, specializing in keeping one or two things in God's law and ignoring others. James 2:10b

You won't be perfect. It's too hard to fully obey everything God has said. God loves you for who you are, but He doesn't leave you just as you are in the sticky mess of sin. We may miss the mark, but we aren't left in our mess. There's freedom in forgiveness.

When our mess-ups begin stacking up, we may hide it, deny it, or throw ourselves a little pity party. Jesus doesn't want us to do any of these. Instead, He says, don't be scared to look at your mess-ups because I've already paid for them.

Because of Jesus, all those ugly sins don't need to stack up against you.

The admission price into forgiveness begins with an admission of your sin.

He lifted me out of the ditch, pulled me from deep mud. He stood me up on a solid rock to make sure I wouldn't slip. Psalm 40:2

Challenge:

1.Put a bowl in the middle of your room.

2.Grab a handful of plastic spoons or straws.

3.Stand back about 6 feet.

4.Try to throw each one into the bowl.

It's impossible to be perfect all the time. Think about a hurt you have caused or what someone has done to you. That is an example of missing the mark. But, no matter how much we miss, God still forgives us. No sin is too big for God!