Active Object Lesson

Let’s say our SuperVerse together. 1 Corinthians 3:16:

All of you surely know that you are God’s temple and that His Spirit lives in you.

How awesome it is to be God’s Temple! As His Temple, we are to be noticeably different from the world. Just as God’s Spirit was present in the Temple, His Spirit lives in us today. The temple that Solomon built was to be kept pure and holy by the priests. The priests needed to cleanse their feet and hands before they served. Priests sprinkled blood on the Mercy Seat—the lid of the Ark of the Covenant—to purify the sins of the people. Sweet-smelling incense was burned on the Altar of Incense, symbolizing the prayers of the people rising up to God. Special oil was used to anoint all the furnishings in the Temple to set them apart for God’s use. (See Exodus 30.) We have a responsibility to keep our Temple cleansed and holy for God’s use, too!

Read Romans 12:1:

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him. 

Give each child a chunk of dough of the same color. Demonstrate how to flatten out the dough so the cookie cutter can be placed on it and fill the mold. Use the mold to make the shape and take it out to show the class. Give two children two of the same shaped cookie cutters. Have each child press the mold into the dough, remove it, and then pass the mold to another child.

When all children have finished, have them hold up their shapes. Discuss how all they are the same.   

To conform means to be shaped by a pattern or mold—to be identical or similar. It also means to act according to stated standards or customs.

Read Romans 12:2a:

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world.

To conform means to look and act like everyone else in the world. This becomes a problem when we begin to follow the world’s standards that disagree or are in conflict with God’s standards. This can lead us to sin and defile God’s Temple.  

Place toothpicks and/or pencils on the tables. Give the different colors modeling dough to the children. Have children crush the last “cookie cutter” dough shape. Have them now create a figure of themselves that is unique and special using the different colors and the toothpicks and pencils to add details. Emphasize that they should be creative and unique! When finished, have children hold up their figures for all to see.

Read Romans 12:2b:

But let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Transform means to make a complete or dramatic change in form, appearance or character. Look at everyone’s figure—no two are alike. God wants to transform each of us into what He created us to be, to follow His plan for us, and to live according to His standard—not to conform to the standards of the world.  

Conclusion: Only by the blood of Jesus can we cleanse our Temple and keep it holy and acceptable for God’s Spirit to dwell in. Let us be transformed, unique, and set apart to bring Him glory and to be a light in a dark world.