"Dirty Shoes" Bible Object Lesson (1 John 1:7-9)

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"Dirty Shoes" Bible Object Lesson (1 John 1:7-9)
“But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.  If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” 1 John 1:7-9

Such a powerful passage! I love that we are promised forgiveness when we confess our sins. But what happens when we don’t? Can we fool God? Of course not! Here’s another great verse to use with my Dirty Shoes Object Lesson:

Where can I go to get away from your Spirit? Where can I run from you? If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I lie down in the grave, you are there. If I rise with the sun in the east and settle in the west beyond the sea, even there you would guide me. With your right hand you would hold me.” Psalm 139: 7-10

Supplies You’ll Need

  • Old, dirty shoes that you’ve rubbed in mud
  • Newspaper or garbage bags

Prepare to Teach
Arrange the newspaper or garbage bags on your teaching table. Put the dirty shoes on top.
Let’s Teach
How many of you have walked in the house with dirty shoes on? Raise your hand if that’s you. Me too! I hate it when that happens. When you walk in the house with muddy shoes on, everyone knows where you’ve been! You can’t lie about it–and you shouldn’t. It’s like the evidence sticks to the shoes and it’s just a mess. See my muddy shoes here? Can you guess where I’ve been by looking at my muddy shoes?
Do you think I went to the beach? No. I’d wear flip flops to the beach.
Do you think I’m walking around in my bedroom with these on? No. That would be my slippers.
Are these rain boots? Nope. These are muddy shoes that I ruined. They got muddy because I walked in the mud. The bad thing about mud is it gets everywhere and it is so hard to get off. Nobody wants you around when you’re covered in mud, do they?
You know, when you walk through life sometimes your shoes get muddy. Sometimes we get into bad situations. When we see a mud hole, or a bad situation, we are supposed to avoid it but it doesn’t always happen, does it? Sometimes you just can’t avoid it.
This mud reminds me of sin. It sticks to us and it can ruin our walk. Luckily for us, sin isn’t permanent or it doesn’t have to be. Get yourself unstuck by asking God to forgive you. He will!
You can do it! Read more from Mimi by following her blog at Tools for Kids Church.

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