Day 3: The Word is a Mirror

CONNECT

Let’s play a game! Using a pencil, pen, or highlighter, look for the following words in the puzzle below:

BONUS QUESTION:  

Do you know what all these things have in common? They all show us a picture of ourselves. 

An ultrasound, MRI, CT scan, and x-ray all give us pictures of what the inside of our bodies look like. They show us pictures of our bones, hearts, and other organs, and they help doctors see if there is anything wrong inside of us. 

We use mirrors to see how we look. We use it to check if our clothes fit us well or if we need to brush our hair. We also use it to make sure we don’t have dirt on our faces. We use mirrors to check if we look good and clean for other people to see.

What about the Bible? The Bible is the word of God. God tells us through the Bible how He wants us to live and that He wants us to be holy and obedient to His word. This means we can use the Bible just like a mirror. We can use it to check if we look good and clean inside where only God can see us.

READ THE WORD

Let’s read James 1:19–25:

My dear brothers and sisters, always be more willing to listen than to speak. Keep control of your anger. Anger does not help you live the way God wants. So get rid of everything evil in your lives—every kind of wrong you do. Be humble and accept God’s teaching that is planted in your hearts. This teaching can save you. Do what God’s teaching says; don’t just listen and do nothing. When you only sit and listen, you are fooling yourselves. Hearing God’s teaching and doing nothing is like looking at your face in the mirror and doing nothing about what you saw. You go away and immediately forget how bad you looked. But when you look into God’s perfect law that sets people free, pay attention to it. If you do what it says, you will have God’s blessing. Never just listen to his teaching and forget what you heard. James 1:19–25 (ERV)

When you look at yourself in the mirror and you see dirt on your face, or maybe a bit of food is stuck between your teeth, you immediately remove it or wash your face. The verses above are saying the same thing. The Bible tells us how we should live as children of God. If we come up short against what the Bible says and ignore it, it’s like seeing our faces with a lot of mud but not washing the mud away. We want to look clean and neat when we face other people. We should feel the same way when we face God. God looks at our hearts more than our faces and He can see when our hearts are not clean. The Bible helps us see that. We should not only read it but should also do what it teaches. Being obedient to what the Bible says is a way to continue to keep your heart clean.

HUDDLE

Parents to Kids

4–6 years old  

• Do you want to obey God? Why or why not?      
• Do you think you are obeying God when you obey your parents? 

7–12 years old  

• Is the Bible revealing anything to you that you need to obey? What do you plan to do about it? 

Kids to Parents      

• How has God’s word changed you? 

Similar to how a mirror can show us what we want to see, the Bible shows us the condition of our hearts. As we examine our hearts against what the Bible teaches, God will reveal to us when we have sinful thoughts, emotions, and even motives. When we find that they are not in line with God’s word, let us be obedient and ask the Holy Spirit to help us align them with God’s.

PRAY

Dear God, thank You for loving us even during times when we are not obedient children. Thank You for giving us Your word so that we can see if we are following You or are moving away from You. We trust that You will continue to love us and teach us Your ways for our own good. You will even use our parents and others to bring us closer to You. Please help us obey You because we want our thoughts, our words, and our actions to be pleasing in Your eyes. In Jesus’ name, amen.

DISCOVER

Try creating an infinity mirror. Get a smaller mirror that you can carry or hold and go in front of a larger mirror. See how the mirrors keep reflecting one another so it looks like you have multiplied!  

There are also other cool experiments you can do to show the power of mirrors.