The Parable of Laundry

Teaching your kids about the bible is as easy as teaching a two-year old to sort laundry.  A two-year old cannot read but they can recognize colors.  So you as a parent attach a picture of the colors exactly where you want the clothes of the same color to go.  A two-year old can match colors and so a two-year old can sort laundry.  You just did not know how to teach them to until now.  As you stand amazed as you watch them sort laundry for the first time think of this…

Teaching a child the bible is no different.  They do not know what you know.  They have not experienced what you have experienced.  They can not read and even if they do they are not able to interpret the words they are reading as you do.  Even adults differ on the interpretation of words.  So what then?  How do you teach them?  You must relate what you want them to learn to what you know they already know.  This is why I believe Jesus loved to use parables.  So today give your child the parable of the parent doing laundry:

 

Parable of the Laundry

 

Here is an example of a laundry time bible study that you can start to talk to your kids about as they separate their clothes by color:

Ask Your Child?

Do you know that the first thing God did when he made the world was separate light from dark?

Tell Your Child:

“Genesis 1:4
And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.”

Ask your child:

Why do colors need to be separated before washing?

Will a white piece of laundry stay just as white if it is washed in a load of dark colors?

Explain to your kids why you separate laundry.  Show your children how dark colors bleed by placing a dark color piece of fabric in hot water or by washing a white sock in a load of dark clothes.

 

Ask your child:

What does the dark color remind you of?

“Do you know what Jesus compared darkness to?

Tell your Child:

Jesus compared darkness to sin. To all the bad things we think and say and do. We can read about it in our bible.

Ask your child:

What does the white color remind you of?

Do you know what the bible compares the color white to?

Tell Your Child:

The bible compares white to being pure.  Pure means you have no sin.  Pure means your thoughts and words and the things you do are good.

Ask your child?

Can I wash away a bad thought with soap and water?

(Pretend to wash a thought)

Can I wash away a bad word with soap and water?

(Pretend to wash a word)

Can I wash away a bad attitude with soap and water?

(Pretend to wash a nasty face)

Can you stop someone from hitting you by washing their hand?

(Pretend to wash a fist)

How can you wash away the bad things you think and say and do?

Tell Your Child:

There is something that can wash us from the inside out.  The bible sometimes calls it water.  Jesus calls it living water.  This water is not just water like the water in our sink.  You cannot see this water the bible is talking about.  This special water the bible is talking about is the Spirit of God.

The Spirit of God is like water to us because it keeps our spirit alive just like we drink water to keep our bodies alive.  Our bodies cannot live without water. Our spirit cannot live without the Spirit of God.

The Spirit of God is what cleans up all our bad thoughts and words and the bad things we do.  The Spirit of God is the only thing that can wash away our sin.  It is the Spirit of God that must wash us if we are to be forgiven for the bad things we do.

But we cannot have this special water, this Spirit of God, unless we believe in Jesus Christ.  When Jesus died on the cross his blood and the water that was inside him actually came out of his body and spilled onto the hard earth beneath his feet.  That is not the only thing that came out of Jesus when he died.  Jesus was pure and good.  Jesus was filled with the spirit of God.  Jesus had to die so that the Spirit of God that was inside him could come out and touch the hard hearts of men.  His Spirit spills onto our hearts when we first hear his words… the very words we read in our bible.

But just like water spills quickly down a hard surface. (Spill a liitle bit of water down the washing machine) If we say no to Jesus and the words in our bible… If we say we do not need Jesus, his word, or his blood what we are really saying is we do not need God or his forgiveness.  We have a hard heart that is not letting his Spirit soak in.  We must have a soft heart for God.  We must be willing to believe. Once we believe God’s word, his Spirit can start to soak into our hearts.  If we want more of God’s Spirit we must read more of God’s Word in the Bible.

We cannot wash our clothes or our bodies with a sprinkle of water can we? (Sprinkle some water on your dirty clothes) No we need a whole washing machine filled with water, a tub or a shower.  (Show child the washing machine full of water). It is the same with God’s word.  God’s word is what can clean us up because his word is his Spirit speaking to us.  Our soap is all the different scriptures he has given us.  (Show child laundry soap).

He uses your body as a tool to help wash your spirit, just like a piece of clothing washing in a washing machine (Show child clothes washing in washing machine).  He even uses your body to wash other people’s spirits too when you use your body to bring someone a message from Him.  He will keep washing and rinsing away our bad thoughts and words and the bad things we do, and keep using us to help wash up others,  if we keep reading and thinking about his words.  Then one day we will be ready to be pulled out of our body, but not yet it is not time.(Walk away and come back later when the clothes are ready to go in the dryer).

(Returning to pull out the clothes) Yes one day our spirit will be pulled by the hand of our Lord right out of our body, like clothes being pulled out of a washing machine.  Then we will be brought home to be with him in heaven in the warmth of his love (Put clothes in dryer), our spirit looking clean, good and pure before him because we have been washed by his word.

 

 

 

 

 

References:

The darkness of sin:

 

Acts 26:15-18 (English Standard Version)

15And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 16But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, 17  delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles- to whom I  am sending you 18  to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

The white of Purity, Goodness, Justice, Righteousness (Correctness)

Lamentations 4:7
Her princes were purer than snow, whiter than milk;

Isaiah 1:16-18 (English Standard Version)

16Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;  remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, 17learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.

18″Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

How we are washed:

Ephesians 5:25-27

“ …Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”

The LORD compared to a fountain of living water:

Jeremiah 17:13
O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame;those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water.

Jesus able to give living water:

John 4:10
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

 

God’s word is a living word:

Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

God’s Word is Jesus:

John 1:14
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

God’s Words are Spirit and Life:

John 6:63
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.