We talked tonight about Elijah and the widow from 1 Kings 17:9-24. We discussed how grave the times were for the widow and her son and still, when asked to do so, she gave what she had and didn't attempt to hold onto it even tighter because she had so little. We talked about how we could apply this to our own lives and discussed times we found it difficult to share something with someone else because it was all we had left of that specific thing. The kids gave some great examples!
Then we talked about how it shows true Christian character when we give out of our lack because it shows how great our faith in God to provide all of our needs is. We discussed how having faith even as small as a mustard seed can be enough (Matthew 17:20) if that faith is strong and does not waiver when difficult times come our way.
To illustrate this, we brought an air popper popcorn maker and some popcorn kernels. On the outside and uncooked, all of the kernels look just alike and they're not very tasty either. There is nothing to tell them apart or make some stand apart from others. But then we put them in the popper. We heated up things a bit, the heat representing times of trials and tribulations in our lives. Some of the kernels popped into beautiful, fluffy, tasty popcorn that gave off a delightful smell. Some of the kernels didn't change at all. Still others cracked, but never fully transformed.
We compared the kernels that turned into popcorn to true Christians. When tested, true Christians grow in their faith, they flourish and bloom and become even more beautiful on the inside and more appealing to others around them on the outside. The cracked kernels were those Christians that cracked under the pressure of the fiery trials and didn't grow or flourish, but instead remained unfruitful, unedible, not able to be used by God. The unpopped kernels of course represented the non-believers who don't change one way or the other as a result of their circumstances. Doesn't some of this sound familiar after studying the different types of soils?!
Back to our widow, we discussed how she was definitely a popped kernel of popcorn. We also talked about how, as a result of her faith, God gave her a gift pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing (Luke 6:38)...literally! He made it so that, in a time of great famine, her flour and oil containers never stopped flowing so she and her son could eat and survive the difficult times they were in. To illustrate this we used a measuring cup and asked the kids how much of a large bag of cotton candy they thought we could fit into it. None of them thought the entire bag of course, but that's exactly what we did...pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing!
And with popcorn and cotton candy as our object lessons tonight, I bet you can't guess what we had for snacks after class! Hey, at least it wasn't fried butter!!
