Second Chances - Christian Devotional for Children
by Ruth Willms

Description: Devotional for teaching your children that God will forgive them their sins.

"But if we confess our sins to Him, He can be depended on to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. [And it is perfectly proper for God to do this for us because Christ died to wash away our sins.]" 1 John 1:9 The Living Bible

Have you ever messed something up? Something that was very important and you didn’t get a chance to fix it or try again? That really hurt, didn't it?

Sometimes we make wrong decisions because we don't know all the facts. Often we don't get a chance to try again, at least not for awhile, and we have to live with the consequences of our poor choice.

Sometimes we choose to have something right now- we don't want to wait- and we hurt the long term result. For example, you have quite a bit of money saved up for that iPod you want to buy but your best friends are going skiing this weekend. You'd like to go. Your parents just took you last weekend but they give you the OK to join your friends. They say this time you'll have to pay for it yourself though. So if you decide to go you will have to save for that iPod again. You need to think that over carefully.

The Bible tells us about a man named Samson. Maybe you have read about him or heard about him. If you haven't, you can read about him in Judges chapters 13 to 16.

Samson was the strongest man ever. God had given him extraordinary strength for a very special task. He was to rescue his people, the Israelites, from the Philistines.

He was so strong that once he pulled the city gates with the two gateposts, right out of the ground. Then he carried this load on his shoulders to the top of a mountain. His enemies, the Philistines, wanted to know what made him so strong so they could capture him.

Samson made the mistake of trusting a Philistine girl, who betrayed him. He loved this girl, Delilah, but obviously she didn't love him but only pretended to. She joined forces with the rest of the Philistines wanting to know his secret: why was he so strong? She pestered and pestered him until he couldn't stand it any longer.

Then he told her the truth: if his hair was cut he would lose his great strength. While he was sleeping she brought in a barber to cut his hair. She let in the Philistine men and woke him up, calling, "Samson the Philistines are here to capture you."

Samson woke up and thought he would shake himself free of his enemies, not realizing his hair was cut. It was too late. His strength had left him and the Philistines carried him away. They gouged out his eyes and tied him with chains and made him grind grain in prison. But his hair began to grow again.

One day when his hair was long, the Philistines had a big celebration at their temple, where they worshiped idols. They brought Samson into the temple to entertain them. He couldn’t see, so he asked the boy who was leading him to place his hands against the two pillars that held up the temple.

Samson prayed that God would give him strength again. God gave him a second chance and heard his prayer. With all his might, Samson pulled on the pillars and the building came crashing down. Samson got to conquer his enemies, but in so doing he also died with them.

Do you know that when we sin, even after we accept Jesus as our Savior, God gives us a second chance? We try to obey God and do what the Bible teaches but sometimes we still fail. We will always fail at some things while we live on earth. We will only be perfect in heaven. God knows us and understands us and accepts our weaknesses.

So through Jesus He has made a way for us. He says if we confess our sin He will forgive us. He forgives us because Jesus died on the cross for that sin and all our other sins. In fact, we don’t only get a second chance but many. Each time that we sin and turn to Him, and ask for His forgiveness, because of Jesus, God forgives us. That is truly something to be thankful for.

Going Deeper with Parents:

These thoughts apply to us as adults as much as to our children. Our mistakes may leave us with deeper scars but God has the same remedy for our sins as for our children. If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us too and give us a clean start.

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

Want to know more about how God can help you every day? Check out my new book The Lion Tree at http://www.ruthwillms.com. Check out daily devotionals for kids and their parents too at my blog http://www.ruthwillms.blogspot.com

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