The Naughty List
Key Verse
Romans 3:23
Additional Verses
Romans 6:23; John 3:16-17; Romans 5:8
Materials Needed
- Lump of coal
Object Lesson
As Christmas gets closer and closer many people start talking about Santa Claus. The chubby guy in a red suit that delivers gifts to all the good kids in the world. We go to the malls to sit on his lap and tell him all the wonderful things that we want, then we try to be really good so he will actually bring them. But what happens if we aren’t good? What does Santa supposedly bring to bad children?
(Show the lump of coal.)
He brings a lump of coal! That doesn’t sound very nice does it? I sure wouldn’t want to just get a lump of coal for Christmas. But guess what! I am not a very good person. I have done things that I shouldn’t do. In fact, the Bible says in Romans 3:23 that we have ALL sinned and fallen short of God’s standard.
This means that all of us have been on the “Naughty List.” All that we deserve is a big fat lump of charcoal!
However, this holiday really isn’t about Santa Claus, it is about Jesus! It is His birthday that we celebrate. Santa may only be able to give out lumps of coal to people who aren’t very good, but Jesus does something even better!
In John 3:16-17 it says that God sent his Son Jesus to this world to save people. Jesus already knew that all we deserve is a dirty lump of coal, but He wants to give us something MUCH better than that! He wants to make a trade!
Jesus takes our lump of coal for himself and gives us freedom from sin and eternal life in heaven! That is the greatest gift that anyone could ever get.
So Santa may only give our black coal for people who have done bad things, Jesus gives those people the chance to have eternal life. Let us make sure that we remember Jesus and the wonderful gift that He gave us as we celebrate Christmas this year.
D5 Creation