God makes the first move

01 · GATHER ROUND

Start with a question.

“After a fight with a friend or sibling, who usually makes up first? Why is it so hard?”

Be honest about your own stubborn moments. Making up is hard for everyone.

03 · OPEN THE BIBLE

The long walk across the playground.

Sam and Leo had been best friends since kindergarten—until the fight. Sam made fun of Leo’s drawing, and Leo told everyone Sam cheated at tag. For three days they didn’t talk. Then Leo saw Sam sitting alone by the fence. It was the longest walk ever across that playground. “Hey,” Leo said. “I’m sorry. Can we be friends again?”

Someone had to make the first move. That’s what reconciling means: bringing two people back together after something has come between them. It’s hard, because someone has to be humble and take a risk.

Our sin has come between us and God. And unlike Sam and Leo, the problem isn’t half and half. God never did anything wrong. We did. We couldn’t fix it, and we couldn’t make it up to him. So is there any way back?

Yes! God made the first move. He didn’t wait for us to walk across the playground. He came all the way to us. He sent a Redeemer—someone who would pay whatever it cost to bring us back. About seven hundred years before Jesus was born, God told the prophet Isaiah about a servant who would suffer and carry the sins of many people.

Our Bible verses say something hard and beautiful. It was God’s plan for his servant to suffer, and through that suffering many people would be made right with God. The servant would bear their sins—like carrying a heavy backpack that belonged to someone else. When Jesus came, he was that servant. He came willingly, because he loves us, and he carried our sins and the punishment they deserved so we could come home.

Feeling far from God because of something you’ve done? You don’t have to make the first move. God already did. Your part is to turn around and receive the welcome he offers in Jesus.

04 · WONDER TOGETHER

Let’s talk about it.

1. Why is it so hard to be the first one to make up after a fight?
2. What does it tell you about God that he made the first move toward us?
3. Isaiah wrote about Jesus hundreds of years before he was born. Why is that amazing?

Try answering one yourself first. “I don’t know yet” is a fine place to start a conversation.

06 · TALK TO GOD

Let’s pray.

Loving God, we couldn’t find our way back to you, so you came to us. Thank you for sending Jesus, the Redeemer, to carry our sins and bring us home. Help us remember that nothing we’ve done is too big for your forgiveness. Make us people who make the first move toward others, just as you did for us. Amen.

Then invite everyone to add one thing they want to tell God.

07 · MAKE IT STICK

A little truth to learn by heart.

Make a puzzle. Write this week’s answer on a sheet of paper, then cut it into six or seven pieces. Mix them up and put them back together as a family, saying the answer as you go. It’s a small picture of what reconciling means: putting things back together.