Hi Kids!
Last week, we learned about two brothers, Jacob and Esau, who didn’t get along. As we know, Jacob and Esau were twins; Esau being the older twin. Since Esau was the oldest, he was supposed to be given a birthright and blessing, which means he would inherent all of his father’s (Abraham’s), land, money, and protection from God. Jacob, however, wanted the birthright and blessing for himself and so tricked Esau into giving him his birthright over a bowl of soup. Jacob then later tricked his father, Abraham, into giving Esau’s blessing to him instead.
The end result is that Esau hated Jacob and even threatened to kill him. Even though what Jacob did was wrong, and although Esau should be upset with him, is it possible Esau could have handled the situation any better? Could have Jacob? Watch the message below to learn how to handle similar situations like this that may happen in your life:
Wouldn’t it have been better if Jacob and Esau calmly spoke and listened to each other? Perhaps Esau could have found it in his heart to forgive Jacob. Forgiveness is key to any relationship, but you have to work at it. Being human means we all can make mistakes even if we don’t mean to upset one another, but being followers of Jesus means we all have the ability to forgive as He has forgiven us. The next time someone wrongs you or you wrong them, pray to God and think of forgiveness. God will give you the strength to talk to that person and make things right again.
Today’s activity includes coloring and making forgiveness crowns. Instructions on how to make your forgiveness crown is on the activity sheet you can download/print below:
If you are ever angered by someone or you anger someone else, put on your forgiveness crown and think of the ways you can calmly and carefully talk to that person in order to achieve forgiveness.