Forgiveness

lesson suitable for 6 - 12 years old

Sunday 15 Jan 2023

lesson suitable for 6 - 12 years old

Prayer and Worship session.

Create in me a clean heart https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGPmMcDeRpM

GREETINGS

Happy new year guys! Welcome to a brand new year. Hope you all enjoyed the holidays. And hope you had a great time with your families and friends. Did you visit people, did they visit you?

Tell me something exciting about the year-end break.

I also hope you are having a great, exciting and challenging time as you return back to your schools for a new academic term.

This year, I pray that the Lord will make us grow in His Word, Knowing Him and Serving Him.

In this month of January, we are going to discuss a very important topic: FORGIVENESS.

INTRODUCTION

What does forgiveness mean to you?

·       Letting go of the hurt that comes with the wrong doing of others

·       Erasing someone else’s wrong doing

·       I checked what other people have written about forgiveness online, and the summary I gather is that -

Forgiveness is a conscious and deliberate decision to RELEASE THE HURTFUL FEELINGS of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group who has offended, hurt or harmed you, regardless of whether they actually deserve your forgiveness.

SYNONYMS

Can you give me other words for forgiveness?

·       Pardon            Tolerance

·       Mercy              Pity

·       Lenience          Indulgence

·       Remission

Have you ever offended or been offended by anyone?

Have you ever forgiven any one, or asked someone to forgive you of something wrong you did to them e.g. your parents, siblings or friends?

Share a story with me.  

What are things people do to you, that you dislike?

What do you think is happening in the pictures below?

FORGIVING OURSELVES AND OTHERS – Discussion

Open your Bible to Matthew 6 v 14-15

If you forgive others the wrongs they have done to you, your Father in heaven will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done.

Story story!!

Adapted from Mathew 18 v 21 - 35

Janet was a little girl who lived with her parents in London. She had many toys and video games, dresses, fairy dolls, costumes and nice things in her room. Jane was 10 years old.

She had a little brother called Justin, he was 5 years old. Janet and Justin lived with their Dad and Mom, who gave instructions that the kids should only play with their toys in their play room, and never to enter daddy and mummy’s bedroom to play with fragile items.

One day, Jane disobeyed her parents entered her mom’s room to use the large marble mirror. She wanted to do some make-up for her doll. Accidentally, jane tripped over her mum’s marble mirror and it broke. 

Oh my God, what was she going to do?

Jane was frightened and she cried
and cried until her mum heard her.

She hugged her mum tightly and asked that mum should forgive her for being disobedient. Mum was angry only for a moment, but she forgave Jane.

Jane’s mum forgave her and tidied up the broken mirror from the floor. Jane was happy again that her mum forgave her, and promised to never disobey again.

The following day, Justin, while playing in the playroom, accidentally kicked Jane’s most favourite fairy doll and broke the doll’s neck. What!!!



Justin became sad, and he humbly apologised to Jane but she wouldn’t listen. She yelled and yelled at her brother and threatened to never play with Justin, ever again!. She was mad! No one could calm her down! Oh my God!!

Justin called mom and dad to explain the situation. Mum was very disappointed that Jane could not forgive her brother, when mom had forgiven Jane for a broken mirror the previous day. Mom scolded Jane for such bad and unforgiving behaviour.

She was punished for this bad attitude and she learnt her lesson from that day.

This is the end of the story.

Question:

1.  What should Jane have done better?

2.  If you were Jane, what would you do differently, before using mom’s mirror?

Further Discussion

Forgiveness is an important part of our life as Children of God, because as long as we are human, and we live on earth, we will always disagree with other people’s behaviour or way of life. …even if they are children of God too.

Sometimes people may offend you intentionally, or unintentionally. You may disagree with people because they fail to reason with you, or accept your views about an issue. The same way people offend you, you may also be the one behaving wrongly towards others.

Our Lord Jesus teaches us that the two greatest commandments are to love God and Love others. Matthew 22 v 37-40

Now to love others, you cannot habitually hold grudge against them. If you truly love others around you, you should not hold hurtful feelings towards them because of past disagreements.

You have the right to be angry, offended or feel bad, because you are human. However, the Bible teaches us to be angry, or feel offended only for just a moment. Read Eph. 4:26-27

Where sin comes in, is when you habitually hold hurtful feelings towards yourself and others, especially for a prolonged time!

So the next time some one offends you, please let your anger towards them go away as quickly as you can. If you find it difficult to forgive, please pray to the Lord, to give you a heart of forgiveness and help you forgive.

Forgive others, because you serve a God who forgives. Eph 4 v 31-32

The following may help:

1.  Make a decision to forgive, whether the other party asks for forgiveness or not.

2.  When you know you have offended someone, ask for forgiveness, humbly!

If they fail to forgive you, choose to forgive yourself.

3.  Watch what you say, in the moment of anger! Proverb 21 v 23

It is better to be calm and silent, gather your thoughts, and present your views, calmly, like a child of God. James 1 v 19 – 20

4.  Pope Alexander said: ‘to err is human, to forgive is divine’.

Ask for divine help to forgive yourself, be humble to ask for forgiveness and also to forgive others.

When you intentionally decide not to ask for forgiveness when you are wrong, it is called PRIDE! God dislikes proud people. James 4v6b

Results of unforgiveness.

Let each child choose any one and discuss what they know about these?

1.  Hurt and Pain in the mind.

2.  Unsettled spirit

3.  Malice

4.  Envy and Jealousy

5.  Hatred

6.  Vengeance

7.  Murder

8.  Hell fire!! Yes, read Mark 11 v 25. if we have an unforgiving heart, we cannot fellowship with the Lord. And if we cannot fellowship with the Lord in prayer, then we are closer to hell than we are to heaven!

The Lord will help you to have a forgiving heart, in Jesus name.

Next time we meet, we shall discuss the following:

·       Embracing God’s forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

·       Let go and Let God;

Let us pray!

Song of the day

I need you to survive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9yAct5a7DM