Sometimes a very visual demonstration drives home the reality of scripture so much better than just talking about it. 

Scriptures:
2 Timothy 2:15 - How Do You Handle God's Word?
1 John 1:8 - Missing the Mark
Psalm 8:9 - Truly Making All Things New
Proverbs 17:3 - Flopification
Psalm 26:2 - Prove, Try, Test
Leviticus 23:16 - Count!
Hebrw3s 12:12 - Persevering
Psalm 91:2 - Trusting in God

***How Do You Handle God’s Word?
 . . . . a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15

Materials: a hand-held fan, a box puzzle

Do you remember the first time you saw a fan folded up? Were you absolutely amazed when the lady snapped it open with a flick of her wrist? That fan, a combination of paper, wood, and glue, became a useful tool - when mere moments earlier, it was not helpful. Another apparently useless item is a puzzle box? It looks like a piece of decorative wood on a shelf. It seemingly does nothing but take up space and collect dust. But if you know how to open the box, it becomes a place to keep treasures.

I saw my fan the other day and couldn’t help thinking how well the fan illustrates this verse in 2 Timothy 2:15: a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

If we belong to God and we are His servants, then it logically follows that God has given us a job to do. We are to be witnesses of Him to the people around us. We are to make disciples of all nations. We are to spread the good news of the kingdom of God. Furthermore, God has given us a tool to accomplish that task: the Bible, the word of God, the word of truth.  

So here’s the question: Do we handle that tool rightly? Do we use the Bible in the correct manner? That means believing it to be true, believing that it doesn’t contradict itself, that it means what it says and says what it means! We don’t take the Bible and add anything to it; we don’t add other people’s thoughts (other writings or books), we don’t add our own interpretations. We don’t pick and choose what we want to believe. We have to take all of the Bible, not just our favorite parts.

But just believing that God’s word is true isn’t enough. We have to know what the Bible says. That means we shouldn’t leave our Bible on the shelf and only read it on the Sabbath or when we need God’s help. We have to study it carefully, reading it diligently each day, seeking to understand what God’s telling us. Thankfully, those who belong to God have the Holy Spirit to help guide and illuminate God’s word so we can understand and apply the word of truth.

So we talked about the fan - how it’s a good object lesson of rightly handling God’s words. The puzzle box is also a good object lesson! Just as the puzzle box can hold treasures, so does the Bible. But you have to open the box to see the treasure, just as you have to open the Bible to find the treasures God has for you inside!

Here’s the bottom line: if you desire to know what God has said, so you open the Bible and read it, then you won’t be ashamed. Quite the contrary, in fact. God will bless you as you seek Him and His word of truth.


***Missing the Mark
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:8

Materials: marshmallows, popsicle catapults (https://academy.animaljam.com/posts/marshmallow-catapult)

There's something very compelling about hitting a target: darts, basketball, golf, skeet shooting, archery . . . and catapults come to mind! It takes skill to hit the bulls-eye consistently time after time. Who doesn’t like the call: nothing but net!! It has even become part of our language. If someone is describing something, we might say, “You nailed it” or “You hit that dead center.” The slang term of “right on” derives from the concept of having your sights right on the target. You are accurate.

Because we have this concept in our culture, it helps us enormously to understand the concept of sin. Literally, the word sin in the Greek means “missing the mark.” What a mental picture this creates for us!! Our desire is to hit the target, to hit dead center, to hit the mark. Nowhere is this more important than when we’re talking about obedience to God. We want our actions to be right on, to nail God’s commandments, to be on target with every one of our actions.

How do people get better at archery or catapulting? Practice. Attention to detail. Desire to hit the mark. The same applies to not sinning, aka obedience to God’s law. We practice. When we fail, we repent and we try again. We pay attention to the details, seeking out God’s will to do it exactly as He desires. And we earnestly desire to do what is right in God’s sight. If we have the desire, if we pay attention, and if we persevere, we may get closer to obedience and avoiding sinning (missing the mark). We also need God’s guidance - through the Holy Spirit and reading God’s word.

Some people miss the mark repeatedly, so they want to move the target. God doesn’t change; His laws don’t change. We cannot change the law just because we feel like it - and we cannot move the target just because we can’t hit it with our marshmallow catapult.

Read your Bible. Pay attention to what it says. And greatly desire to hit the mark!


***Truly Making All Things New
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!  Psalm 8:9

Materials: Pez dispenser and candy

Have you ever seen a Pez dispenser? The dispenser top is usually some animal. I have a Winnie the Pooh and a duckling Pez dispenser. But they come in all sorts of tops. When the head is pushed back, the dispenser lifts one piece of candy and pushes it forward so that it is easily obtainable. It’s an ingenious gimmick to sell sugar candy. Kids are enthralled with the idea that you can get a piece of candy and then it’s “miraculously” replaced. Honestly, there are any number of things where adults would like to see that phenomenon applied.

Maybe that’s why we like spring so much. Every year daffodils spring out of the ground, sometimes in places we’d forgotten they were the previous year. Trees bloom. Lilac bushes that were just a mass of dead-looking twigs are again a fragrant bouquet. And even adults feel that childlike wonder when the row of radishes pops its head up. “Yea! I’ve got little baby radishes!!” Where everything was seemingly dead and colorless, everything is made new and fresh again.

However! Everything really wasn’t dead; it was just dormant. If it was really dead, spring would not bring it back to life. Dead is dead.  And that’s how it works with people too - whether we’re talking about physically or spiritually. When we die physically in this life, we are dead. And when we are dead spiritually in our sins, we cannot make the choice to come to life again. Dead is dead. We need the Giver of Life. We need Jesus Christ.

Praise our God who calls us and draws us to Himself (John 6:44)! When we have a relationship with God the Father through Jesus, we are spiritually alive; we’ve been made new. Plus, we have the assurance of eternal life - being raised from the dead at Jesus’ return and living forever with Him.

During the springtime, we rejoice at the sight of new life. Imagine the rejoicing when God’s people are raised out of their graves to eternal life.

We are enthralled with a simple candy dispenser that gives us a new piece of candy every time we push back the head or the miracles of spring. As C.S. Lewis noted, we are too easily contented to sit in dirt and play in the mud. We need to set our minds on things above, on eternal life and God making all things new.


**Flopification
The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the LORD tests hearts.  Proverbs 17:3

Materials: egg & hard-boiled egg; uncooked spaghetti & cooked spaghetti; raw potato & cooked potato

A memorable Curious George episode involved George watching a chef at work. When the chef put spaghetti or carrots or potatoes into a pot of boiling water, they came out soft. George deduced that it was a special flopification pot. He wondered what other things he could put into the pot to make them floppy. George got one thing right: hot water changes things.

There’s an idiomatic expression, “being in hot water,” which means that you’re in trouble. We typically conclude that someone who is in trouble, or hot water, with their parents or with the authorities has done something wrong, something that has earned them trouble. But trouble doesn’t always have to come when you’ve done something wrong. Sometimes trouble, or hot water, comes your way when you were simply minding your own business.

Nevertheless, how you respond to the trouble, or hot water, reveals a lot about what kind of person you are. A potato or pasta put into hot water becomes soft and pliable. An egg put into hot water is hardened. It’s interesting, though, that both are ready to be eaten after their experience in the hot water.

What about you? When you experience hot water, or trouble, do you become more pliable to God’s will, more sympathetic to others who are also experiencing trouble, more easily approachable? Or do you become a little harder - with a little more resolve and determination to do God’s will, to persevere through difficulties.

God knows just exactly what we need to mold us into the image of His Son. Sometimes it’s trouble. And although we’d really like to avoid the hot water, as long as we trust God and praise Him regardless of the trouble, or maybe because of the trouble, we’ll continue to be changed into the image of Jesus Christ.

Just something to think about next time you find yourself in a flopification pot.

 
Prove, Try, and Test
Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and my mind.  Psalm 26:2

Materials: lemon, lemonade, cups, iron, kite tail, string

Let’s say I have a string. It’s a fairly strong string and I think I can use it to fly my kite. But I might want to prove that it’s strong enough to use before I attach my kite to it. Otherwise, my kite might end up in the tree. So I’m going to tug and pull on that string, proving it is kite-flying worthy.

Let’s say I want to attach a tail to my kite, and I want it to look sharp. So I’m going to iron it. I can’t iron it until the iron is hot. How do I know when the iron is ready to be used? I have to test it. You have to be careful because when it is hot, it will burn your fingers. But if you lick your fingers and quickly touch the iron, you’ll know when it’s hot enough!!

And let’s say that I know that kite flying will make me thirsty. So I’m making some lemonade. But I want to know if I’ve put enough sugar in the lemonade. What do I have to do? I have to try it. Yum. That’s so good I’m not sure I want to go fly my kite. I think I’ll just sit here and drink my lemonade.

Perhaps you’re thinking that proving the string is the same thing as testing it or trying it out. Maybe you’re thinking that testing the iron’s readiness is the same thing as proving that it’s ready or trying it on the tail. I suppose you’re thinking that trying the lemonade is the same thing as testing it or proving that it is sweet enough. Well, you’re right. When you look up the Hebrew words they are all synonyms meaning to try, to test, to examine, to prove, to inspect, to evaluate.

It is interesting that this is a psalm of David, a man after God’s own heart. David is asking God to prove that he is fully devoted and committed to God. He wants God to test that he is ready for service, and he wants God to try him, to verify that he (David) has done what he is affirming. That’s quite a request to make of God!!

Would you make that request of God - asking Him to try you, to examine your ways, to prove your heart is solely devoted to Him?

It’s a powerful thing to consider. We just celebrated the Passover, the commemoration of the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ. We eat the bread and drink the wine not only as a reminder of what Jesus was willing to do on our behalf, but also a reaffirmation of our relationship with Jesus as our Savior.  And just as Jesus was willing to be completely obedient to the Father, to be solely devoted to God, even to death on the cross, we are to be conformed to His image, willing to be completely obedient to the Father in all things.

Over the next seven days, we are daily eating unleavened bread. It’s a reminder of the changing power of taking Christ into us that we might be changed, fully, completely, unwaveringly into His image. Then we, like David, might have the confidence to ask God to try us, to prove us, to test us.


***Count!
You shall count off fifty days until the day after the seventh Sabbath, Leviticus 23:16

Materials: calendars, 50 stickers for each child

God gives us certain things to do for each of his holy days. What are we supposed to do on Trumpets? Shout!! What are we supposed to do on the Day of Atonement? Fast or afflict our souls. What are we supposed to do for all of the Feast of Tabernacles? We’re supposed to dwell in temporary dwellings or tents. What are we supposed to do for the Days of Unleavened Bread? Eat unleavened bread each day. So what are we supposed to do leading up to the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost? We are supposed to count.

Do you know when you are supposed to start counting? You count from the day after the sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread. It is the Wave Sheaf Day. It is the day Jesus was resurrected from the dead and presented before the Father, the First of the firstfruits.  At the same time, the first of the barley harvest was waved before God before the new grain of the harvest could be eaten. This is the day that we are to begin counting.

How many days do we count? 50 days - up until the day after the seventh sabbath. These next seven weeks are the days that we are to count leading up to Pentecost.

It’s easy to live in a temporary dwelling for seven days during the Feast of Tabernacles. It’s pretty easy to remember to shout on Trumpets. It takes a bit more concentration not to eat anything on the Day of Atonement because sometimes you do things without thinking about what you’re doing. And it takes a deliberate effort to remember to eat unleavened bread every day for a week. But it is hard to remember to count each day. You might start out remembering to count, to think about what day of the count you’re on. Some people like to make a calendar and count off the days. Some people like to keep a journal for seven weeks to make a conscious effort to count as we are commanded.

God doesn’t tell us why we are to count. He doesn’t tell us to make a chain to count down the days, or to keep a journal, or to mark off the days on the calendar. But God does tell us to count. It’s important that we obey our God. Let’s count!


**Persevering
Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.  Hebrews 12:12

Materials: a glass of water (or object of similar weight)

One of the things God exhorts the seven churches of Asia to do is to persevere - to overcome - to keep fighting the good fight - to endure to the end. Sometimes we look at what we are called to do and think that it isn’t that hard. But consider a glass of water.

Can you hold that glass of water out in front of you? Sure. That’s easy. What if I asked you to  hold it out in front of you for 2 minutes? You might find it a little more challenging: it’s boring; you don’t see any sense in doing it; and your arms get tired. What if I asked you to hold it for twenty minutes? Two hours?

Sometimes that’s how Christians approach following God’s commandments. They don’t see what the big deal is in obeying God in every minute detail. It’s not as “exciting” as doing what they want to do. And it requires effort; sometimes you get tired of fighting the good fight. It’s easier to go with the flow.

But our God is not capricious. He doesn’t make up commandments just to give us a hard time or to keep us busy. On the contrary, God’s laws are designed for our good. Keeping them makes life work better. There’s a purpose in everything that God asks us to do.

There’s an interesting story in Exodus 17. The Amalekites attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. Moses told Joshua to take the people to fight while he stood on the top of the hill holding up the staff of God. As long as Moses could hold up the staff, the Israelites were winning. Whenever his arms grew tired and he lowered his arms, the Amalekites were winning. So Aaron and Hur told Moses to sit on a stone, then they stood on either side of Moses and held up his arms. Joshua defeated the Amalekites. Moses built an altar to the LORD there and called it the LORD is our Banner or Jehovah-Nissi. (This is the same name of God that is used in Isaiah 53!)

Here’s the lesson: God expects you to uphold His laws, honor His Name, revere Him as holy. But sometimes we get tired. We need someone to come alongside and hold up our arms, so to speak. We need someone who believes in God as we do to encourage us and tell us to keep fighting the good fight. We are going to grow weary at times. But just as Moses had some help from Aaron and Hur, we need to have people we can depend upon when we are feeling like we can’t persevere - someone to help strengthen our feeble arms and weak knees.


***Trusting in God
I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”  Psalm 91:2

Materials: fully opened iris, iris bud (Can be done with any flower.)

There’s an old hymn that I love entitled “Lead, Kindly Light.” The author speaks of wanting to figure out where he’s going in life. He wanted to know what his life was going to look like and make firm plans about his path. What he learned through life was that he has to rely on God to do the leading and finally came to the place where he could say, “I do not ask to see the distant scene; one step enough for me.”

It’s good to make plans. It’s good to think ahead, to see trouble coming and to avoid it. It’s important to have a goal and work toward that goal. Without a sense of direction, you don’t really get anywhere. You float. You meander. You wander.

However, there’s another saying: If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.

The reality is that when we give our lives to Jesus Christ as our Savior, He becomes our Captain. He pilots our path. That’s what it means to be completely surrendered to God. He gets to decide. That doesn’t mean we sit on the couch and watch tv until God drops something in our lap. We still make plans. We still work hard at what our hand finds to do. But we start each day asking God for His direction and guidance in our lives. Then when things don’t go the way we thought they would go or should have gone, we don’t get upset. We don’t find ourselves “thrown for a loop.” We trust that our lives are in God’s hands. He’s in control. He’s sovereign. He knows that we’ve turned our lives over to Him and there’s nothing that happens to us of which He is not aware. Our prayer is the title of that hymn, “Lead, Kindly Light.” He leads us. His commandments light our steps. His Holy Spirit directs our days.

Sometimes we want to take matters into our own hands. And it’s much like taking an iris (or rose or tulip) bud and trying to open the flower fully. If we try to open the bud, we’ll end up making a mess of the flower. If we allow God to open the bud, it will unfold as He designed it. Similarly, we need to remember to trust God and to allow God the unfolding of our lives, not rushing before His timing to make things happen as we want them to. He is more than able to cause beautiful things to happen in our lives - to His glory and honor.