This Challenge teaches how bitterness, unforgiveness, hatred and resentment create a trap for us and how forgiveness and turning things over to God (especially when we are having a hard time forgiving in our own power) gets us free from the trap. It uses Chinese finger traps to illustrate the point.
Put enough finger traps into each Ziplock bag for each person to have one (and maybe a few extras).
Why is it important to forgive people when they hurt you?
Why is it so hard to forgive people sometimes?
Do you think these three steps will work for you? Why or why not?
Jesus helps me to forgive; Holding a grudge is no way to live!
This object lesson teaches about the danger of holding a grudge (i.e., choosing not to forgive someone). It uses an illustration from Where the Red Fern Grows, a great book about a boy and his hunting dogs, by Wilson Rawls. In the book, the boy learns about an unethical hunter, who traps raccoons by using a weakness in their nature. The lesson compares the trapper to Satan and the trapper’s methods to Satan’s way of trapping us with our own bitterness.
ALTERNATIVE: If you don’t want to build the trap, you could just show the diagram as an illustration.
Drill a large hole into the side of the log – large and deep enough for someone to stick his/her hand in and grab a 2” ball of aluminum foil.
Hammer pegs or pins into the hole at a 45 degree angle so that the volunteer can get their hand in and comfortably grab the ball of foil but so that he/she will not be able to remove their hand while still clutching the foil.
Sand down the rough spots to protect your volunteer from splinters.
Put the aluminum foil ball into the hole.
These materials will make a trapping device to illustrate how Satan tricks us into holding onto something worthless even though we can’t get free from the trap while we hold it. A volunteer will put his/her hand into the hole and grab the aluminum foil ball. The simple solution would be to let go of the ball and get free, but sometimes we want what the ball represents too much.
This object lesson illustrates how Satan tries to fill our minds with worries, fears, doubts and many other things so that there is no room for God’s truth, peace and joy.
• Label the blocks: Truth, Love, Joy, Peace, Wisdom, Vision, Faith, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control, Righteousness, Hope (or whatever you think appropriate – they should be things that God wants to fill our mind with). You could also focus on Philippians 4:8 and do blocks that say “True, Noble, Right, Pure, Lovely, Admirable.” You will need 9-12 blocks.