During one of my third grade classes recently, I focused my lesson on how sin entered our world. In the previous lesson in our Makerspace, students created a “snake repellant hat” based on the book “Rosie Revere, Engineer”. After seeing their amazing and fun hats, I knew that it would work for us to explore how Adam and Eve could have repelled the serpent who planted seeds of doubt in their minds, but chose not to do so.
As Christian believers in Jesus, we know the way that we repel evil is to believe the truth in God’s Word and live like it’s true. The Holy Spirit helps us to obey God and helps us understand the Bible so we can live a life of faith in Jesus. I’m grateful that the Holy Spirit draws us as sinners to Himself and chooses us first while also being thankful that God allows people to choose Him.
My students may or may not have chosen to accept Jesus into their hearts by faith so this lesson would give the Holy Spirit the opportunity to move in my lesson. My school encourages Bible integration into all subjects so I prayed and asked God to give me wisdom on how to plan the lesson.
First, I had them watch and listen to the video Bible Story of Adam and Eve. Take a minute to watch it and see how it clearly shows the Bible story. The kids’ eyes watched every interaction in the video so the stage was set.
We then discussed the following points:
Jesus came to save us from our sin. Sin is disobedience to God. In the Garden of Eden, a serpent convinced Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Their choice separated them from fellowship with God.
God told them that they would have to leave the garden since they had disobeyed him. We are born like Adam and Eve with sin and are separated from God until we ask him to forgive us of our sins.
Jesus came so that we could be reconciled to God and not separated from him.
Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. His Word is truth and He wants all of us to know the truth so we could choose to believe the good news. Jesus’ death on the cross paid the price of sin and brings us back so we can know God.
I prayed for the class and felt that the Holy Spirit would not allow His Word to return void. It would accomplish what it was supposed to accomplish. I may not ever know on this earth if a child said a prayer in their heart as a result of the lesson but know I was faithful to provide it. God will do the rest.
Students had two Projects: They would make a model of the story about Adam and Eve in a story paper wheel. Next, they’d create a Lego model of the Garden of Eden with lots of trees and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
As they created their paper wheel model of the story, a girl shared her thoughts with me. She said, “Mrs. Maples, it doesn’t seem fair that God would put that tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden if he knew that Adam and Eve would eventually eat from it.” Her furrowed brow showed me along with her sincere tone, that she truly was puzzled. I shared with her that God wanted them to choose to obey Him and believe in His power as their Creator. They weren’t forced to obey but when they chose to disobey, it came with the consequence of leaving the Garden and losing fellowship with God.
My student’s face suddenly changed and she responded with, “I see now that God wanted them to choose Him.” It seemed like the perfect chance to again share with her that even now, God wants us to choose Him.
I heard this week that one of the students in the third grade class who was sitting next to the girl who asked me the question has prayed a prayer to ask Jesus into her heart this week. Thank you, Jesus, for drawing her to faith in You and surrounding her with teachers and staff who have prayed for her for over a year.
I wanted to provide this lesson and the ways that a student responded in hopes that it will encourage you as a Believer in Jesus to share the origin of sin story and provide the hope you have as one who has been redeemed from sin.
Praise God for drawing us to Jesus and saving us from our sins! If you’ve never considered choosing to believe by faith in Jesus, I hope you’ll consider doing so. Let me know in the comments and I’d be honored to pray for you.
