Read: Matthew 20:9-16

Bright and early in the morning, Kira flew into Grandma’s kitchen with a grin on her face while her cousins were still sleeping upstairs. Grandma had just finished setting out bags of flour and sugar and loads of cookie cutters. This could only mean one thing—Grandma’s delicious sugar cookies.

“Oh, Kira, thank goodness you’re here!” Grandma exclaimed. “We have to make twenty boxes of cookies for the church fundraiser tomorrow. If you help, you can bring a dozen home tonight to enjoy.”

“I’m in!” Kira cried.

After an hour of working, Sophie came downstairs and spotted the cookies. “Can I help?” she asked.

“Join the fun!” Grandma replied.

Another hour passed and Jackson ran in with his nose in the air. “I smell cookies!” he cried.

“Roll up your sleeves!” Grandma said with a laugh.

Finally, just as they were rolling out the last bit of dough, Kevin wandered in yawning. Without even asking, he grabbed a cookie cutter and got to work.

When all the cookies were iced and boxed, Grandma gave each grandchild a dozen cookies. But Kira frowned.

“Grandma, I worked the longest,” she said. “Kevin barely did anything. Why does he get the same number of cookies as me?”

“Be quiet!” Kevin shushed.

“Kira, we agreed to a dozen cookies as compensation, right?” Grandma asked, crossing her arms. Kira nodded. “So why are you upset?”

“It’s not fair!” Kira cried.

“Maybe not,” Grandma said. “But is Jesus’s love based on fairness?”

“Ooh, this is like the parable of the workers!” Sophie said.

Grandma winked. “Exactly. That parable illustrates how at any stage of life, we have the chance to receive Jesus’s love and forgiveness. That might not seem fair to us who have been saved longer, but we have no right to complain when it wasn’t fair to begin with that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. We serve a generous and merciful God.”

“I’m glad I have a generous God and a generous grandma,” Kira said with a smile as she bit into a cookie.

–Hannah Chung

How about you? Has someone’s generosity ever seemed unfair to you? Perhaps your sibling got a present on your birthday or your teacher allowed another student to turn homework in late. Just remember that if you trust in Jesus, you are the recipient of the ultimate act of generosity—His gift of unconditional love and forgiveness. As you recognize His love in your life, consider how you can be generous to others too.

Today's Key Verse: For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. 1 Peter 3:18 (NIV)

Today's Key Thought: God is generous

Read: 1 John 2:15-17; 4:1-6

“C’mon, guys!” Lara jumped into the pool. “Let’s make a whirlpool!”

“Ooh! Yeah!” Her brother Jerome pushed his goggles up onto his forehead.

“A world pool?” Four-year-old Emelia, the youngest of the seven siblings, hung onto the ladder and scrunched her forehead.

“A whirlpool, Lia. It’s where we go around and around until we make a current,” Lara explained. “I’ll piggyback you, okay?”

“Okay.” Emelia leapt onto Lara’s back.

They all went around and around and around, until Imogene decided she was going to go the other way.

“Aaahhh! Help!” She giggled. “I can’t…move!”

Lara turned and braced her feet, laughing. “I can’t either!”

“Look! I’m swimming in place!” Jerome paddled furiously. “I…can…almost…reach…the wall! There!”

Momma, who’d been watching from the deck, stood up. “Who wants a snack?”

“Me! Me! Me!” everyone chorused.

“All right.” Momma opened the cooler. “Come on out and have a granola bar, and then you can go back in.”

They clambered out and dangled their legs in the water while they ate.

“You know,” Momma said after a minute, “you kiddos making a whirlpool made me think about how we as Christians have to live.”

“I hope we don’t go around in circles.” Lara frowned.

“No, I was thinking more about the current you made. It was hard to go against it once you really got it going, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Imogene grinned. “I couldn’t get anywhere!”

Momma nodded. “The world around us makes a current, and it can be very hard not to go along with it. But we as Christians are called to live another way—we’re called to trust and obey Jesus and follow His way of truth and love in the Bible. If we try to live that way on our own, it’s like you trying to go against the whirlpool—you can’t get anywhere.” Momma smiled. “Thankfully, Jesus doesn’t leave us to swim against the current on our own. He supplies us with His own strength and grace. And if we’re relying on Him as we go against the world’s current, His love will become evident in us.”

–Ellie Shirk

How about you? Have you ever made a whirlpool? It’s difficult to go against a strong current in the water, and it can be even harder to go against the world’s current. But God will always give us the strength we need to stand against the world’s ways and follow Jesus instead. Trust Him to help you follow the way of Jesus in this world so others can see His truth and love in your life.

Today's Key Verse: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2 (NKJV)

Today's Key Thought: Follow Jesus, not the current

Read: Psalm 51:2; Isaiah 43:25; 1 John 1:6-9

Press, stamp! Press, stamp!

Kaitlyn’s thumb squished into the orange stamp pad, then she squashed it onto paper. Next, she pushed her finger into the yellow stamp pad, and a sunny oval appeared on the page. Soon she had a collection of colorful fingerprints, and she was ready to create designs with her black pen.

But her fingers were coated in wet, gooey ink in every color of the rainbow! She couldn’t pick up her pen without leaving bright marks all over it.

“Mom,” Kaitlyn called. “Help!” She waved ten inky fingertips in the air.

Mom arrived with a warm towel, and as Kaitlyn’s fingers washed clean, the white washcloth became stained with color.

“You know,” observed Mom, “this reminds me of something.”

“What?” asked Kaitlyn. She picked up her pen with clean fingers and began to doodle on top of the fresh, dry ink.

“When we are stained with sin, like your fingers were stained with ink, Jesus is the only one who can make us clean.”

Suddenly, Kaitlyn’s elbow was bumped from behind. The black pen in her hand wildly curved across her page. “It’s ruined!” she cried. “Hunter, it’s all your fault!”

Her little brother’s shoulders slumped.

Immediately, Kaitlyn felt remorseful. She prayed silently. She thought of how the white cloth had just removed ink stains from her hands, and she asked Jesus to forgive her harsh words and wash her clean. Then, taking a deep breath, Kaitlyn said, “I’m sorry I yelled at you, Hunter. It was just an accident.”

Hunter moved close for a little hug, then leaned against the table to watch.

Kaitlyn turned that wild black line into a swooping antenna. She dotted on black eyes and colored in larger spots to make an orange ladybug. Next, on a green print, she drew curly wool, a little face, and spindly legs to make a sweet lamb.

Soon Kaitlyn’s page filled with animals of all kinds. When she was finished, she turned to Hunter. “Would you like me to help you make fingerprint art?”

A wide smile was her answer.

–Wendy Lynne Smith

How about you? Do you need God to wash away the stain of your sin? God loves you so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, into the world to take your guilt upon Himself. All you need to do is confess your wrongdoings and trust Him to make you clean. Jesus will forgive your sins and give you a clean heart.

Today's Key Verse: The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29 (NIV)

Today's Key Thought: Jesus washes away your sin