Let Me Get This Straight

Children’s Bible Object Lesson

Object point: Living true to God’s Word

Applications: "Obedience"; "Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven"; "Lead us not into temptation")

You will need: a white board, dry erase markers, a ruler, and a plumb line. You can make a plumb line by attaching a cord to a plumb bob or a pyramid lead sinker fishing weight.

What you do: Choose a few children to come to the board. Have each child take a turn drawing a straight, vertical line*. Tell them there can’t be any bumps or squiggles. (It isn’t possible.) Now give them a ruler to draw a line next to their crooked line. (It will be much straighter.)

Those lines are now straight and true, meaning they are exact or accurate.

Show the plumb line; hold it up and allow the weight to drop. Ask, "Do you know what this is?" (Receive answers.)

It's called a plumb line. In ancient times, builders used plumb lines to establish straight, vertical lines to build walls. That was their standard, the usual way to build buildings. If builders didn’t use a plumb line, they risked building a crooked structure. Today, builders use laser plumb lines.

Before Jesus came to earth, the prophet Amos spoke about God using a plumb line to measure his people. You see, Israel had gone astray—they were crooked so to speak, in that they were not true and straight in their devotion to God; they worshipped false Gods and didn’t obey God’s Word. God told Amos to tell the people of Israel that God would punish them for their disobedience.

Read Amos 7:7-8 from a child-friendly Bible.

Being punished by God is a terrifying thought! We must understand that disobedience to God is a serious matter. At the end of the book of Amos, God promises a future kingdom where his people will be restored.

Today, those who follow Jesus are part of that kingdom. Jesus came to earth to take the punishment we deserve for sinning against our Holy God. Yet, even when we ask God to forgive our sins and to be our Savior and Forever Friend, if we try to live our lives apart from God’s Word, we will be crooked and bumpy like those lines we tried drawing without the ruler. However, when we allow God’s Word to be our standard, our ruler, our plumb line, so to speak, we will live lives that are straight, true, and pleasing to God.

Close in prayer: "Dear God thank you for dying on the cross to forgive our sins. Thank you for rising from the dead to give us eternal life. Help us to live lives that are straight and true to your Word. Help us also to love other people and tell them about your love and forgiveness. In Jesus name we pray, Amen."

Copyright 2020 Sarah Keith  

This lesson coordinates well with the 2nd and 5th sections of the Lord's Prayer, ". . . Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven . . . Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil . . . "

If you like this kind of children's message, check out It's in the Bag-52 Bible Talks for Children's Ministry.

*Inspired by Dr. Tony Evans' January 29, adult devotional.

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