Elementary // Mercy Week 1
Memory Verse:
“But you, O Lord, are a God of compassion and mercy, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.” Psalm 86:15 (NLT)
Definition
Mercy: Forgiving others even when they don’t deserve it.
Teaching Truth
We need mercy.
Questions to Ask Your Child
Read Ephesians 2:1-10. What do you learn about God and about us in these verses?
How would you explain mercy to someone? Why do we need mercy?
What amazing gift does God offer to everyone who is willing to accept it?
Activity
Make breakfast for dinner this week with pancakes and syrup (or another sticky/messy food combo). As you’re eating, get the syrup all over your face and hands. Try to wipe it off with a napkin (you won’t be very successful). After unsuccessful attempts to remove all the sticky syrup, ask one of your family members to go get a wet wipe or wet towel for you so you can actually remove all the syrup and the stickiness. Help them make the connection between you needing help from someone else to be clean at the dinner table, and how we need mercy from God through Jesus. We all sin (think, say, and do things that don’t please God). Our sin makes us unclean and separates us from God. We can’t do anything on our own to clean ourselves up. But God, who is rich in mercy, freely gave us the mercy we needed by sending His Son, Jesus, to take the punishment we deserved for sin through His death and resurrection.