Conversation Starters: God’s Forgiveness
Posted by Karah
THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE: We have all been affected by unforgiveness. Many of us have wronged someone else—intentionally or unintentionally—and though we may have sought forgiveness, it was not offered. Others have been so hurt by someone else that the idea of forgiving seems impossible. Fortunately, God is not like us. The Bible reveals to us a loving God whom we have wronged with our rebellion and sin, yet He offers us total forgiveness and empowers us to forgive others.
Concept: God’s Forgiveness
Preschool
Book of Jonah
LIFE POINT: God told Jonah, “Go to Nineveh. Tell the people I know about their sins.” Jonah did not want to go. He went on a ship that was sailing far away. God sent a storm that almost broke the ship. Jonah told the sailors that he had run away from God. He told them to throw him into the sea because the storm was his fault. The sailors threw Jonah overboard, and a big fish swallowed him. While in the fish, Jonah asked God to forgive him. After three days and nights, the fish spit Jonah onto the shore. Jonah went to Nineveh. The people listened to Jonah, and God forgave them.
LIVE IT OUT: Model forgiveness for your child. Let her hear you and other family members pray for forgiveness from God. Let her see you forgiving someone for some wrong. Slowly she will begin to put that behavior into practice.
Kids
Book of Jonah
LIFE POINT: God told Jonah, “Go to Nineveh. Tell the people I know about their sins.” Jonah did not want to go. He went on a ship that was sailing far away. God sent a storm that almost broke the ship. Jonah told the sailors that he had run away from God. He told them to throw him into the sea because the storm was his fault. The sailors threw Jonah overboard, and a big fish swallowed him. While in the fish, Jonah asked God to forgive him. After three days and nights, the fish spit Jonah onto the shore. Jonah obeyed God and went to Nineveh. The people listened to Jonah, and God forgave them. He did not punish them.
LIVE IT OUT: Forgiveness can be a hard lesson. Challenge your child to keep a list of the times he sins during one day. Pray with him, asking God to forgive his sins.
Students
1 John 1:5- 2:2
THE POINT: God always forgives when I truly repent. How can we learn to be more forgiving as a family? What is the hardest part of forgiving someone? Have a conversation around this quote:
“I think that if God forgives us we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him.”1 —C.S. Lewis
LIVE IT OUT: Your student has been encouraged to do one or both Live It Out activities.
If your student chooses to do Confession:
•Encourage your student in the practice of confessing sin to God.
•Pray for your student as he or she examines his or her life for unconfessed sin.
If your student chooses to do Forgive Them:
•Encourage your student as he or she seeks to forgive someone this week.
•Determine to forgive someone in your life and share that experience with your student if possible.
1. C.S. Lewis, Letters of C.S. Lewis, ed. W.H. Lewis (Orlando: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing, 1966), 408.
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