CrossKids Devo | Mean Servant

Activity – How RU Doing

Draw a line on a sheet of paper. Place a 1 on the left end of the line, a 10 on the right, and a 5 in the middle. As kids arrive, ask them to pencil in their initials on the line.

Say: If your day was so awful you wish you'd slept through it, place your initials by the 1. If it was a great day and you wish you could repeat, put your initials by the 10. Place your initials anywhere on the line that shows how you feel today.

Bible Time – Mean Servant – Matthew 18:21-35 How many times do we need to forgive someone? How many times? Seventy times seven--that was Jesus' reply.

That wasn't a literal answer. We know that 490 times isn't the cutoff point for grace. Jesus was making the point that forgiveness needs to be available until it's no longer sought or needed.

But there's another message in this story: forgiveness is a two-way street. Yes, we receive it from God through Jesus. But we're also expected to be just as forgiving to others.

In this session you'll help kids discover that the forgiveness they receive from God isn't just for them. God wants to empower us to be equally forgiving, to pass along what we've received. With his help, we can forgive others!

Say: As I read aloud the story Jesus told, Feel free to act out the story. If talk about being afraid, shake in fear. If talks about to attack another, gently act that out. Please whimper, snort, or provide other sound effects as you wish.

Read: Matthew 18:21-35, pausing often to act out their roles.

Ask:

• What's the lesson about forgiveness that Jesus is trying to teach?

• If Jesus is serious about that message, what does that mean to me?

Ask: What the moral of the story is? If they are they on target Congratulate the children. If they are off target? Gently redirect your children.

Pray