Saying sorry to God for doing things that make Him sad.
You Will Need:
Some dark coloured construction/sugar paper,
some chalk & an eraser
What the Bible says
You will find peace and rest when you turn away from your sins and depend on me.
You will receive the strength you need when you stay calm and trust in me.
Isaiah Chapter 30 verse 15
Ponder:
God wants us to say sorry for all the wrong things we do.
What we mean by that is: all those things we do deliberately that make God sad. Things like being rude, telling lies, not sharing or taking something that isn’t ours.
The Bible calls this Sin.
Some people say they’ve never done anything wrong deliberately! But the truth is – we all do, and we need to say sorry for those things – and mean it.
[A Note: A lot of the behaviour we call naughty isn't deliberate nautiness. Many will respond in a way they can’t help because there’s too much sensory input, stress or they need a safe place to regulate and calm down. When we talk about sin- we are not talking about this. If this is you, God understands why it happens and loves you.]
Ponder some more:
Sometimes it’s really clear when we’ve done something wrong.
Sometimes it isn’t.
Such as not doing anything when we saw someone needed help.
Or, it can be making something else more important than God.
When we say sorry and mean it, God promises to forgive.
He makes a choice not to remember it ever again!
What would you like to say sorry for today? (You don’t have to say it out loud - unless you want to say sorry to a person too!)
Do:
Use the chalk to scribble on the paper.
Make it look really messy!
Pray:
As you scribble, ask God to remind you what you need to say sorry for.
As you remember those things, say sorry to God.
Then, to remember that God forgives and makes a choice to not remember this sin any more, rub out the chalk with the eraser, and say thank you to God for forgiving you.
An extra thing to ponder with older children:
You will notice there is still a residue of the chalk on the paper. This could represent the fact there will still be consequences of what we have done. For example If we've been horrible to a friend, they may not want to be friends with us anymore - so we will need to say sorry to them.
Maybe our grown ups at home will still want to set a punishment such as no iPad or sweets for a week!
NOTE: I have had some comments on the use of black paper and white chalk for this activity – as to whether it is racist.
In this instance, having dark paper is immaterial in the outworking of this activity – you can just see everything better. Plus, 'sin' is represented by the chalk, not the Paper.
White on black is also the national standard for accessibility for those with a visual impairment – and I do my best to design everything to be as accessible as possible.
