Matthew 16 - Pick Up Your Cross
Activity Coloring Page & Object Lesson
Main Point:
Matthew 16 | Pick Up Your Cross | We have a perspective problem!
Object Lesson:
Peter couldn't imagine loosing his best friend! When Jesus told him what He must go and accomplish in Jerusalem through suffering and even death, Peter wanted to come to His defense! Peter had forgotten that Jesus KNEW what His Father in heaven had planned for Him and that what His Father had planned was better than anything we could think, imagine or plan.
The temptation to pursue the things of this life isn't the only tactic of our enemy to take our eyes off of the next life! Trying to avoid difficult things, even pain and suffering can also be something that the enemy tries to use to tempt you from accomplishing God's will. Jesus went to the cross because He KNEW what was in store for Him... an eternity with YOU and I if we believe in Him and that He died to take away the sins of the world.
Object Lesson: Shift your perspective! Cut a small rectangle into a piece of black construction paper. Then print this sentence "A blind man picked up a hammer and saw!" on a regular piece of paper. Without revealing the message, place the black construction paper on top of the paper with the sentence printed on it so that only one letter is showing in the rectangle.
Ask if your child can predict what the message says based on that one letter. Move to the next letter and then ask them again to guess what the sentence says. Repeat this until the point is conveyed that they can't accurately guess the message until it's been revealed! HOWEVER, even AFTER the message is revealed... it's a bit confusing until it's been properly explained!
Our human and finite perspective is like this. We often don't know what God is teaching us when we view it from our limited perspective! (one letter at a time) We MUST trust that the Lord is good, that He loves us and He has the best for us. He will reveal the entirety of the message AND its meaning to us in HIS time.
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