Righteousness
Hide dirty laundry and try to “sniff it out.” Discussion point: Just as dirty laundry smells bad, our sin “stinks” to God. We stay clean by regularly confessing our sins.
This activity is best done just before laundry day in your home so there will be plenty of dirty clothes to use as props. Begin by asking your children to go to their bedrooms and hide all their dirty clothing inside the clothes they are wearing. Alternatively, you can ask them to hide all their laundry somewhere in the house. Use the discussion questions to help your children understand the correlation between the mess that dirty clothes create, and the “mess” of sin in our hearts.
Questions for discussion
- What would happen if we never washed our clothing?
- How would our home smell if we never washed our clothes?
- Would leaving all of our laundry dirty cause any other problems?
- If you visited someone’s house and it smelled of dirty laundry, would you want to visit there again?
- Read Isaiah 1:16-18. What can we compare our dirty clothing to?
- Do you think God is more concerned about your bedroom being clean or your heart being clean?
- Read 1 John 1:9. How can you get the sin washed out of your heart?
- Whose job is it to pick up dirty clothes and put them in the hamper?
- Who washes the clothing?
- Who should confess their sin?
- Who washes the sin out of our lives?
Key concepts
If our laundry was left unwashed, the whole house would eventually begin to smell. Wearing dirty clothing can also cause a person to smell. Dirty laundry is like having sin in our hearts that we have not confessed. To God, that sin stinks.
Just as it was impossible to hide the smell of your dirty clothes by stuffing them under your shirt or somewhere else in the house, it is impossible to hide our sins from God. And just as it is our responsibility to pick up our own soiled clothing, so it is each person’s responsibility to tell God he or she is sorry for the sin he/she has done. A parent can wash clothing, but they can’t wash a child’s heart. Washing our sin away is something only God can do. The Bible tells us that when we confess our sins, God will forgive our wrongdoing and will purify us (that is, get rid of any unrighteousness in us). God loves us so much that He gets rid of our sins completely when we confess them.
Relevant Scripture
Isaiah 1:16-18 “ ‘Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of My sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Come now, let us reason together,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.’ ”
Proverbs 28:13 “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”
Psalm 103:11-12 “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
- Acceptance
- Adaptability
- Attentiveness
- Christmas
- Compassion
- Confidence
- Consideration
- Contentedness
- Cooperation
- Courage
- Courtesy
- Discernment
- Easter
- Faithfulness
- Forgiveness
- Generosity
- Gentleness
- Gratitude
- Harmony
- Honesty
- Humility
- Joy
- Kindness
- Obedience
- Patience
- Perseverance
- Respect
- Responsibility
- Reverence
- Righteousness
- Self-control
- Thanksgiving
