One of the most challenging and often intimidating concepts to teach to children is what it means to be reborn after the pattern of Christ.
One Sunday morning in the middle of my lesson, God gave me a revelation to use play-doh and cookie cutters. This illustration has proven to be very useful for every age. The illustration goes something like this:
PREPARE: Get two wire cookie cutters and a tub of play-doh. The cutters can be of any shape. It works well to have a gingerbread man cutter since it looks a bit human. As you work the play-doh in your hands, engage the children by asking some simple questions like: Have you ever used cookie cutters? What is your favorite cookie cutter shape? What is your favorite color of play-doh? Etc.
ASK: (Hold cutter up to the audience) What do you notice about my cutter? (Acknowledge the different answers but conclude with the response of it being in perfect condition. You may have to be the one to give this answer).
SAY: Right, this cutter is in perfect condition.
ASK: (Demonstrate as you speak) So if I mash out my play-doh and push this cutter into the play-doh, what will the play-doh look like? (It will look like the human cutter).
SAY: Right, it will have the perfect shape just like the cutter. (Hold up the human shape of play-doh) This reminds me of the very first man God ever created.
ASK: Do you remember his name? (ADAM)
SAY: Adam was created by God’s very hands. God breathed life into Adam with His own breath. God used special care to create man and woman because we are very special to Him (Genesis 1). Did you know that humans are the only creation that God personally touched to form? We must be pretty special to Him.
ASK: But who knows what happened in the Garden of Eden? (Adam and Eve disobeyed God and were now separated from God because of sin. Romans 7:8; Romans 3:23; James 4:17).
SAY: Adam and Eve were now “marked with sin.” It is like if I take this perfect cookie cutter and I dent the frame. (Dent the frame a bit) It will no longer be perfect, and now everything that is cut with this dented cutter will have this mark. (Place it on the “Adam” cutout you previously made and make the dent). And so everyone born after Adam, which is all of us, have the “mark of sin.” Just like being cut from this dented cutter. (1 Corinthians 15:22, 47) Sadly, God knew that this meant that we would not be allowed to enter His perfect home, which is Heaven. (Romans 6:23)
ASK: But God loves us too much to let that be the end, so what did He do? (He sent Jesus to die on the cross and pay for our sins and resurrected Him three days later defeating death. John 3:16)
SAY: God sent His perfect Son, Jesus. (Show the second cutter that is still perfect). He lived a perfect life on earth so that He could give His perfect blood as payment for our sins. The Bible tells us that without the giving of blood, there is no forgiveness for sin (Hebrews 9:22; Acts 4:12; Romans 6:7). Jesus gave His perfect blood to pay for ALL of our sins. It is a free gift to us so that it is by God’s giving and not what we do.
When we believe and accept this free gift, we are reborn–made new. It is like giving ourselves back to God and letting him recut us with the perfect pattern of Jesus. (Take the Adam play-doh and rework the doh and cut it with the “Jesus” cutter). That means we no longer have the mark of sin. God has placed a different mark on us to show we belong to Him and are now part of His family. (John 3:3; Ephesians 1:13 &14). The new mark is the Holy Spirit of God. When we belong to God, He gives us part of Himself to live with us and help us and to show we are His.
I hope this illustration will prove to be helpful. There are many opportunities to elaborate and allow for more discussion.
Relevant Verses:
Genesis 2:7 Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.
Colossians 2:13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,
John 3:1-10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Verse Concepts Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.