Elf on the Shelf Jesus Style Biblical Virtues: Grace

Discussion

Grace can be complicated to show sometimes, but it isn’t complicated to understand.  Grace simply means not getting what you deserve.

Give your child some examples of grace and see if they can come up with some of their own:

• We show grace by not responding unkindly to someone else’s mean words.
• We show grace by forgiving others when they hurt us.
• We show grace by being nice to those that are not nice to us.

God showed us grace by sacrificing His one and only son so that we may be forgiven of our sins.  We certainly do not deserve this!  But God did it for us anyway because His love for us is a love that we can’t comprehend.

We are sinners and sin separates us from God.  Because Jesus died for us though, we don’t have to be separated from our God.  Jesus’ death is grace in action.  He died for us so that we may have eternal life WITH God.  We certainly don’t deserve this.  We are living in a broken and fallen world, but God’s grace gives us hope.

Scripture

For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.  Ephesians 2:8

Activity

For this activity, you will need:

• Construction paper
• Scissors
• Markers
• Glue or stapler

Take a piece of construction paper and cut it into strips.  Ask your child to name different sins: stealing, lying, cheating etc.  If you have young children, help them identify sins in their own words: taking toys from sibling, arguing with mom and dad, temper tantrums.  As you both come up with the sins, write them onto the strips of paper.  After you have completed this part, make a paper chain with all of the strips of paper.  Explain to your child that sin binds us and it keeps us from feeling free, just like the links of the chain are not free of each other.  If this chain was a real chain, it would be heavy.  The more sin in our lives, the heavier the chain.  Now take a pair of scissors and tell your child that the scissors represent Jesus.  Have your child cut each link in half.  As the links are cut, explain to your child that Jesus died on the Cross and  died for our sins for us.  We do not deserve this, but Christ did it anyway.  That is grace.  The paper chain will slowly become lighter and after all the “sins” are cut, you will no longer have a chain.  Jesus has shown us grace and conquered sin!