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Let’s review how Christians are like pumpkins:
- First, God picks us from the patches of life, brings us into his family, and cleans us up.
- Then he digs inside of us and scoops out all the yucky stuff that is clogging us up.
- He gets rid of the seeds of anger and rage and malice—and all those other things which have kept us on bondage for too long.
- Then he puts a new look on our face, a new song in our heart, and puts his light inside us to shine through us for all the world to see.
This simple presentation can be very effective for children or adults. Just get a pumpkin and as you clean it up and scoop it out and put a smiling face on it with a candle inside, you can explain how in the same way God does this for us who have become his children through faith in Jesus Christ.
I have found that any kind of visual presentation along with a message increases its effectiveness many times. We remember what we see far longer than what we hear. So, I’m always looking for creative ways to make a message memorable and practical.
Let me remind us once again of how God has transformed us from the dirty pumpkins we were, taken us out of our sinful pumpkin patches and made us new creations in Christ. Psalm 30:11-12 expresses this so well: You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise you forever.
(Click here to download the devotional for the entire week.)