Teach Me Jesus Thursdays: What is Sin?

I recently noticed that when my son prays at night, he prays a broad, “forgive me of all my sins” type of prayer. Unless he’s been in some kind of trouble that day, he fails to remember any specific sins. I want my children to know that sin is much more than just not doing what they are told, fighting with each other, and failng to clean up their room. In fact, I want them to feel conviction over their sin and grieve over it.

The past couple of weeks we’ve been focusing on sin in our devotional time together.

We memorized these questions from the children’s shorter catechism:

Q. 28. What is Sin? A. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of the law of God.

Q. 29. What is meant by want of conformity? A. Not being or doing what God requires.

Q. 30. What is meant by transgression? A. Doing what God forbids.

We studied these verses from scripture:

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23

“Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.” 1 John 3:4

And we went through this definition of sin by John Piper:

“What is sin?
It is the glory of God not honored.
The holiness of God not reverenced.
The greatness of God not admired.
The power of God not praised.
The truth of God not sought.
The wisdom of God not esteemed.
The beauty of God not treasured.
The goodness of God not savored.
The faithfulness of God not trusted.
The commandments of God not obeyed.
The justice of God not respected.
The wrath of God not feared.
The grace of God not cherished.
The presence of God not prized.
The person of God not loved.
That is sin.”

We talked about how many in the world don’t believe they are sinful because they haven’t murdered anyone or robbed a bank. We talked about how even just one sin is heinous in the eyes of God and worthy of his wrath. As we went through John Pipers definition, we realized how many sins we commit each day. When we fail to glorify God or don’t appreciate his goodness, we have sinned. When we don’t rejoice or marvel at the works of his hands, we have sinned.

I also had the boys do a little object lesson to show how even one sin takes over the heart. The impacts of our sins are great, even what we might consider ‘little’ sins. Sins also tend to multiply. After all it was just one sin which brought about the Fall of all mankind:

They put one drop of food coloring in a cup of water.

And watched it spread throughout the water.

Until the entire cup of water was red.

We also talked about why even our good deeds are sinful in the eyes of God. (see Isaiah 64:6)

My intention in this study is for my children to see that they are completely sinful and in desperate need of a Savior. For only Jesus can cleanse us from our sin, making us white as snow. And only because of Jesus can we stand before God, holy and blameless in his sight.

If your kids enjoy hiphop music, you might want to have them listen to this song by Shai Linne: