A Little Food Coloring and a Lot of Work

Bible Reading: Matthew 13:33

When Mia and Liam entered Grandma’s kitchen, Grandma was stirring something in a kettle on the stove.

“What are you making, Grandma?” asked Mia. “It smells weird.”

“I’m making playdough for my Sunday school kids,” Grandma replied. “Would you like to help?”

“Yes!” the twins both exclaimed. They watched as Grandma dumped a mound of plain, white dough onto the kitchen counter and divided it into two parts.

“That playdough color looks kind of boring,” said Mia, frowning.

“That’s what you’re going to help me with,” Grandma said. She squirted two drops of red food coloring into one batch of dough and a little blue coloring in the other. Then she placed each part in a plastic bag and zipped it shut.

“One for each of you,” she said, holding out the sealed bags. “Start kneading. The bags will protect your hands from getting stained by the food coloring.”

Mia picked blue, and Liam took red. As they squished the warm dough around inside the bags, streaks of color began to work their way through the white dough.

“Are you sure there’s enough food coloring in this?” asked Mia doubtfully.

“Just keep working at it, and eventually the color will work all through the dough,” said Grandma. “It’s like the parable Jesus told about a woman who mixed only a little bit of yeast into her big batch of bread dough.”

“Did she have enough yeast?” Liam asked.

“Yes,” said Grandma, “but it took a lot of work to get it mixed all through the dough.”

“Telling people about Jesus is kind of like that, isn’t it?” said Liam thoughtfully. “It takes work to spread the good news of salvation, and time for people to accept it.”

“A lot of work,” Mia groaned. “My hands are getting tired.”

“Yes, but don’t forget it’s really God who does the work of changing people’s hearts,” said Grandma. “But He wants us to join Him in His work. As we tell people about Jesus and show them His love, we’re helping spread the good news of salvation throughout the world.”

“And the results are worth it,” Liam said as he held up his bag of red playdough.

“It looks so much better now!” Mia exclaimed.

Grandma smiled. “Just like a life that has been changed by Jesus.”

-Marie Cleveland

How About You?

Did you know God is inviting you to join Him in His work of bringing people to Jesus? How might you help do that? You could share a devotional like this one with someone who doesn’t know Him as their Savior, or introduce a friend to your favorite Christian music. These may seem like small steps, but over time, God can use them to make a big difference in people’s lives.

Today’s Key Verse:
Galatians 5:9 A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough. (NIV)

Today’s Key Thought:

Spread the good news of Jesus