Leader Guide

Creating Activity

Several containers of modeling dough or clay
A small bag of aquarium gravel or very small pebbles—three pieces per child, plus extras
Tables and chairs
Bibles or the Superbook Bible App

Give yourself and each child a chunk of dough and four pebbles or pieces of aquarium gravel.
Set aside an unused container of dough with the lid in place.

That’s Better! Discuss how we are made new in Christ.

Who can say today’s SuperTruth with their eyes closed? “I am brand new in Christ.”

Have the children roll out their dough and tear it into a few pieces to make a simple stick figure with a head, torso, arms, and legs. Make a figure with your dough at the same time.

Those are some nice creations you made. You made them in a way that pleased you. In the beginning, God created Adam and Eve. They were without sin and created in God’s image. He said His creation was good. When Adam and Eve chose to disobey God’s instructions, sin entered into the world. Do you remember how they disobeyed God? They ate from the tree that God said not to.

Because of their disobedience, God’s creation became blemished or imperfect with sin.

As hard as we try to obey God, we will still miss the mark and sin. These pebbles represent the blemishes or imperfections brought about by sin.

Have children place one pebble in the head. Let’s say the pebble in the head represents unkind or disrespectful words and impure thoughts.

Have children place a pebble in an arm. What could the pebble in the arm represent? Disobedient or unkind actions.

Have children place a pebble in a leg of their creations. What could the pebble in the leg represent? Choosing to go your own way instead of following God’s Spirit. Walking toward sin instead of fleeing from it. Walking away from God and His will.

Have children place a pebble in the torso (heart). What could the pebble in the heart represent? An impure heart filled with pride and rebellion, a stubborn or hardened heart toward God’s Word, selfish desires over God’s things.

The heart is especially important. Proverbs 4:23 says:

Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

Have the children examine their creations. Does this look like your original creation? No.

After sin entered the world, God’s created people were different than He created them to be. Push aside your “blemished” figure on the table in front of you as you speak.

God could choose to push us aside and be done with us when we mess up and sin. He could say something like, “That’s it, I‘ve had enough. Three strikes and you’re out; you had your chance.”

Pick up the new can of modeling dough, open it, and form a new figure. He could choose to just start over again and replace us and say something like, “I am Almighty God, and I will just create others to replace them and move on.”

But that’s not what God chose to do. God is love; He is full of patience, mercy, and forgiveness. Instead of destroying us, He sent His Son into the world to die for us and raise us from being dead in our sins to a brand-new life in Him!

When we come to God and ask for forgiveness, He will remove our sins, blemishes, and imperfections. Have the children remove the pebbles, reshaping the figure to look like it did before. Do the same with your creation and hold it up. Can you see where the pebbles or sins were? No.

As long as our hearts remain soft toward God’s Spirit, He is faithful to remove the imperfections and will continue to shape us according to His good pleasure! Through Christ, we are made brand new!

The Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:17:

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

A different Bible version of this verse says it this way: 2 Corinthians 5:17 (CEV)

Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new.

God does not give up on us and toss us aside. Through Christ, we are given new life.