Back to School

Children's Sermon: Back to School (1 John 1:8-9)

As you all know, school starts this week. You only have a few days to get ready. You may need to get some new school clothes or some new shoes. I know one thing that everyone will have to get and that is school supplies. We will have to buy notebooks, paper, folders, markers, crayons, pens and pencils. Pencils...I have some pencils with me today that remind me of the four different kinds of people I see each day.

First, I have a pencil that is not sharpened on either end. It reminds me of people I see that never do anything. They just sit around and let others do all the work. A pencil that isn't sharpened on either end isn't much good for anything. Neither is a person who never does anything.

Second, I have a pencil that has an eraser on both ends. This pencil reminds me of people who never do anything right. Or maybe they are so afraid that they won't do it right, they are like the first pencil and just don't do anything at all.

Next, I have a pencil that is sharpened on both ends. It doesn't have an eraser! This pencil reminds me of people who think they never make a mistake! Do you know people like that? Even if they do make a mistake, which we all do, they will never admit it. Who do they think they are fooling? They are only fooling themselves!

Finally, I have a pencil that is sharpened on one end and has an eraser on the other. It reminds me of people who know they make mistakes, and when they see their mistakes, they correct them. That is the kind of person God wants us to be. The Bible tells us that if we claim that we never make mistakes, we are just fooling ourselves. But if we will admit to our mistakes and ask God to forgive us, He will. He will erase our mistakes and we can start all over again (1 John 1:8-9).

Jesus, help us to remember that we all make mistakes and that if we will ask you to forgive us, you will erase those mistakes and make us clean again.