Pepper and Soap

Bible Reading: Matthew 4:1-11

“What are you doing, Grandma?” asked Nia when she came into the kitchen.

“Oh, I’m getting things together for the object lesson I’m giving to my class at church tomorrow,” Grandma replied. “Want to try it?” Nia nodded eagerly. “Good! Then fill a cup with water,” said Grandma. Nia got a cup and filled it. “Next, sprinkle this pepper all over the water, and then stick your finger in the cup.”

“Oh!” Nia exclaimed after following Grandma’s instructions. “The pepper is all over my finger!”

Grandma nodded. “Now clean the pepper off your finger and rub this dish soap on it.” Nia rinsed her finger and put some soap on it. “All right,” said Grandma. “Now stick your finger in the water again.”

This time the pepper rushed away from Nia’s finger and clung to the sides of the cup. “Cool!” she exclaimed. “So what does this teach us?”

“Let’s pretend the water is the world, and the pepper is sin,” said Grandma. “The finger represents us. We go into the world, and we’re peppered with sin. That’s because we are born sinful—we do and say things that are wrong, don’t we?”

“Yeah,” Nia said. “Everybody messes up.”

Grandma nodded. “So the water stands for the world, the pepper for sin, and the finger for us. But Jesus is like…”

“Like the soap!” Nia finished. “He cleans our sin away.”

“Right,” said Grandma. “And He also gives us the Holy Spirit, who makes us able to turn from sin and do what’s right. Then when we go into the world, we can resist the temptation to sin.”

“But Christians still sin sometimes, don’t they?” asked Nia.

“Yes, they do,” said Grandma. “But even when we give in to sin, it doesn’t stick to us in God’s sight, because Jesus has made us clean. When we realize we’ve sinned, we can confess it to Jesus and then turn from that sin and stop doing it. It also helps to read the Bible and memorize verses that remind us we are God’s children and need to obey Him. When Jesus was tempted in the desert by Satan, He quoted Scripture verses. We can use them like Jesus did to keep sin away because they remind us we belong to Him.”

-Lucinda J. Rollings

How About You?

Are you dutifully fighting the temptation to sin? You live in the world, so sin is all around you. But if you trust in Jesus, you can resist sin through the power of the Holy Spirit. You don’t have to give in. Remember that you’re clean from sin in God’s sight, and use His Word to help you remember that you belong to Him.

Today’s Key Verse: Psalm 119:11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. (NKJV)

Today’s Key Thought:

Turn from sin