Red Letter Challenge Kids: The 11-Day Discipleship Experience for KidsSample

Day 4: Jesus Forgiving

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Matthew 5:44

Once a boy broke a neighbor’s window with a baseball. He apologized and the neighbor said that they forgave him. But there was still the problem of the broken window. Forgiveness did not magically create a fixed window. Someone had to replace the glass. 

Every single time we mess up, there is a cost to pay. Sometimes it’s visible, sometimes it’s invisible. You can be sorry all you want. Sorrow when we make a mistake is normal. But being sorry isn’t enough to pay for the price of sin.

Even God has a problem with sin. No, He doesn’t sin Himself. But even after we mess up, and God tells us He loves us and forgives us, something is still broken. That broken thing has to be paid for by someone. 

Another way to look at it is like this: an invisible debt was created when you messed up, and someone has to pay for that debt. 

Forgiveness doesn’t fix the broken window. Just saying, “I forgive you,” doesn’t make the debt of sin go away. Someone has to pay. 

Here’s the fantastic news: someone did pay. 

That someone had to be perfect. And He had to die so that all that brokenness and debt could be paid for. 

Because of what Jesus did, saying “I’m sorry” is enough. God offers forgiveness before you ever even say a word. No matter how big of a debt we make for ourselves, Jesus can take care of that sin. He even took the sin of His enemies. 

Because we have been forgiven such an enormous debt, we can pray for those who hurt us and even wish them well. We can forgive the little debts and fix the brokenness that others make in our lives. 

But just to be on the safe side, I’d keep baseballs away from windows!

Challenge

Write down 5 of your biggest mistakes with a pencil. Then use an eraser to wipe away all those sins. Like a broken window, Jesus can heal our hurts and take away our biggest sins.