Published 6/2/19
By: Michael and Tiffany Ross
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
Family Quest
Hand out a photocopy of a challenging but kid-friendly maze. (You can pick up a collection of fun mazes online at Amazon or Walmart, as well as at most bookstores.) Instruct everyone to work the puzzle with a pen (not a pencil) so all of the mistakes can be seen. Afterward, take a look at each other’s papers—mistakes and all. Compare this to our journey in life. Each day can bring its share of challenges and confusing choices, and we all end up making mistakes from time to time. But in the end, there is only one true path to God—through His Son, Jesus Christ. We need a Savior.
Talk It Out
· Do you think everyone wants to know God?
· What are some of the ways people try to figure out who God is?
· Do you believe that Jesus is the only path to God? Why or why not?
Parent-Child Connection
Explain that there’s a spiritual tug-of-war going on in each of our hearts that can knock us off course. On one hand, we want to do what’s right. We want to obey what the Bible tells us, and we desire to know Jesus better. But sometimes we make bad choices and don’t fully understand why we messed up—especially when we are tempted by something. The apostle Paul knew this all too well: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do” (Romans 7:15). Paul learned that the tug-of-war is sin working in us. We all need help—a savior—to guide us and to help us live right. The good news is, we have one: Jesus Christ! Believe it or not, if we surrender the internal fight to Him, our Savior will help us through the maze of bad choices and will give us the strength to follow Him. But it’s up to us to call on our Savior. We can choose life by the Spirit and work into our hearts the qualities of God: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Or we can choose the acts of the sinful nature and allow ourselves to degenerate with the cravings of the flesh: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness (see Galatians 5:16–26). The right path is the one laid out for us by our Savior.
Talk to God
As you pray, encourage your child to (1) thank Jesus for being our Lord and Savior, and (2) ask the Lord to keep us on the “path of truth.”
© 2015 by Back to the Bible