14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16)
As we get closer to the end of October, we will see many carved pumpkins on porches, in yards, in windows, and all over the place. Many people will celebrate Halloween. This is a great time for Believers to teach others about how to become followers of Christ.
Years ago I taught a youth class at my church on Wednesday nights. This wasn't your ordinary group of kids. They were the ones that no one else wanted to deal with in the community. Ranging from age 9-12, girls and boys, from the "other side of the tracks"- these kids had hearts of gold. You just had to be patient enough to break through the barriers of hurt, rejection, and abandonment that they faced on a daily basis.
One night as we were studying our lesson plan, a boy asked me what it was like being a Christian. I wish I could have told him it was easy, but I told him the truth in a very creative way. We were actually carving "JESUS" into our little pumpkins, so I used this for my example. This is what I shared.
"It's fun being a Christian because I know that God loves me unconditionally. No matter how hard things get in my life, I know that he will never leave me alone. It's kind of like these pumpkins! Just imagine that we were all pumpkins in a big ol' pumpkin patch. God is walking through looking to see if he can find one who wants to be with Him. Some wanted to be picked, and some weren't ready...they had excuses to stay in the garden a little longer."
"So God gathered all the pumpkins that really wanted to go with Him. First He wipes all the dirt off, just like He does when we accept Him into our hearts." (We wipe our pumpkins off) "That really feels good. But we must remember, the dirt is not the only thing we brought with us from that garden."
As we cut the tops out of the pumpkins, I said "There are some things that require "surgery"...some things that hurt. You see, there are things inside us that need to be removed. Sometimes when people hurt us, we grow seeds of anger and bitterness. When people let us down, we grow seeds of rejection. When we are victims of abuse or witness bad things in our families, we sometimes grow seeds of violence and unforgiveness. This cleaning process hurts a bit, but if God doesn't remove it, then we become infected. This will cause us to rot from the inside, and soon other pumpkins will be ruined because of our infection."
(We are now wiping the inside of our pumpkins clean.) "Once we are all clean, on the inside and out, God can use us in His own way. Sure it may hurt a little here and there, but if we trust Him, we'll see that He's making a wonderful change in our lives. "
(Now we are carving the letters JESUS into the pumpkins.) "Once all the "surgery" is complete, we can be filled with the Holy Spirit."
(This is where we place our candles inside. The lights are dimmed at this point.)
"Then God will remind you that He has a plan for your life. He wants the beauty of Jesus to shine through you so that others can see their way to Jesus!
You see, we are not any better than the other pumpkins in the garden. We are just better off because Jesus has taken us from darkness to light! Now we have to show others the way.
14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16)
Prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for asking us to be Your children. We want to be more like Jesus.
We want others to see Your light shining in our lives. Help us to open our hearts to You. Take away all our bad attitudes, bitterness, anger, and anything that's not like you. Give us Your light and love inside. We're loving you in Jesus' Name, Amen.
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