Present Yourself to God

2 Timothy 2:13, NIRV

Even if we are not faithful,
he remains faithful.
He must be true to himself.

Object/visual

Treat bag. (Try to not use one with ghosts or other scary imagery.)

Message

Jesus remains faithful.

Later this month, many of us will participate in an activity where we dress in costumes and either go door to door in our neighborhoods with our parents close by, or even better, come to the church parking lot and go trunk to trunk. House after house, or car after van, we fill up our bags with treats. If we are in our neighborhood, we may wonder if every house is participating. Some people may not be home or open their front door. We may even begin to have doubts. One way we can feel certain that someone will answer and give us a treat is that they turn the lights on at their house. Even if we see the light on, we might still doubt that the person on the other side of the door will answer.

Do you remember how excited you feel when you open your bag and wait for the treat to be dropped into it? Show me on your face the excitement you feel. (Allow children to demonstrate the facial expression.)

When we open our bags of treats, not only do we feel excited, but we also trust and have faith that the bag will be strong enough to hold the candy. Have you ever had a bag break? (Allow children to respond.) We put our faith in the bag that it won’t break. But when one does, we may still have doubts about whether it will happen again.

Following Jesus can be like that. While following Jesus, we may still have doubts about things happening in our life. We may sometimes feel all alone or afraid, but Jesus remains faithful.

This week’s Bible story is again about Timothy. Paul, in his letter to Timothy, reminds him that even when we have doubts and aren’t faithful in following Jesus, Jesus will remain faithful to us. I am so glad we can have full confidence in knowing that no matter where we are, Jesus is with us!

Prayer

Faithful God, thank you that Jesus will always be faithful to be there for us even when we have doubts. Help us to always trust in him. In Jesus’ faithful name, we pray. Amen.

Verses marked NIRV are from New International Reader's Version (NIRV) Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998, 2014 by Biblica, Inc.®. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.