Adapted by Elaine Oliver and Rosemay Cangy
For this object lesson you will need:
- A large cereal box with cereal (choose one that is familiar to the children)
- A large empty cereal box with crayons in it (one small box of crayons will work)
- 2 cereal bowls
- A grocery bag
Note: Before the lesson, place the three items in the grocery bag.
Slowly, pull out the cereal box containing the crayons from the grocery bag and show it to the children. You can even shake the box a little.
Say to the children: Raise your hand if you can guess what’s in this box. Allow the children to answer. Pull out a cereal bowl out of the grocery bag, then deliberately and carefully pour the crayons into the bowl.
Act surprised: What? It’s not cereal?
Say: What happened? Ask one of the children who can read to say what is on the label on the box.
Ask: What does it say? Allow the child to answer.
Say: It says it’s cereal, it sounds like cereal. Our eyes and our ears told us it was cereal but it was not cereal. Now pull out the other cereal box.
Say: I have another box. It looks like it is cereal, it sounds like cereal (shake the box) but let’s find out for sure if it really is cereal. Pull out the other cereal bowl and ask an older child to assist a younger child in pouring out the cereal into the next bowl.
Act relieved and say: Oh, good, this box really has cereal.
Say: Sometimes things aren’t really as they appear to be and we can’t be sure that our eyes and ears are truly seeing and hearing things the way they are. There is one thing we can always be sure of and that is God’s love for each one of you and me. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 11:1 that faith is to be sure of the things that we have not seen. God is as sure as the box of breakfast cereal that always has breakfast cereal in it. When you have faith in God, you can trust him and believe that He will always take care of you.
Prayer: Dear Jesus, we want to have faith in You. Teach us to believe in you and trust you even if we can’t see you. Thank you for always loving us.
Authors
Elaine Oliver, MA, LCPC, CFLE, is Associate Director of the Department of Family Ministries for the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA.
Rosemay Cangy, former Editorial Assistant for the Department of Family Ministries for the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist World Headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA.
Original author unknown.