I hope today’s object lesson to be of use to youth ministries, family counselors, family home evenings and family devotionals.
Items for the object lesson: Get, aneasily recognized, color, family picture or a color photograph of the famous painting. Make a color copy and put each photo in an identical frame. Then present both to your class or family and have them determined from a distance which one is the original. From a distance, they may not be able to tell them apart.
Just like a counterfeit photo can sometimes mislead us so counterfeit freedoms can bog down our lives. Many people are of the impression that living the commandments of God can be restricting. When you are busy keeping the Sabbath day holy, or thou shalt not bear false witness, or thou shall not steal, some people feel that commandments hinder their personal choice. There are other commandments, that may also be perceived as restrictive.
Discuss with the group the consequences of the following scenario. Instead of the family portrait or famous picture being a counterfeit, let’s say that you have a bunch of money that is fake. Not only is one breaking the law for forging such money, but they do have the consequences of paying for the crime of distributing fake money and can go to jail. The fake money does not have collateral to support the counterfeit currency.
Our obedience to God’s commandments can actually free us in our actions rather than bind us. If we are not been caught stealing then we are not sent to jail for stealing. If we are not caught for lying, then people find they can trust us with what we say and do. We present ourselves as being people of our word in the trustworthy. Breaking the commandments such as lying promotes distrust and a bad reputation. If others can’t have a belief in is believing who we are, can they believe anything at all? Stealing and lying can influence our friendships and our business relationships.
The counterfeit freedoms of doing what you want can give the perception of freedom; but, when we are caught, we end up having to pay for our crimes. When we struggle under the excessive weight of certain addictions, we become enslaved to those addictions. They become our master.
As a group and family discuss specific examples of commandments that appear to be restrictive. Then discuss how following God’s commandments can actually offer you freedom.
If you have some ideas that you think would be useful in improving this lesson. Please feel free to share them. The brevity of this particular lesson is geared so that the class or family can brainstorm more specific and detailed examples.
