It's a Marshmallow World 4/27/2011

This will be a bit of a diversion from the normal random discussion.  Tonight I looked to my left and noticed a marshmallow on the floor behind a fake tree that’s in the room.  Before pointing it out I just asked if the Sunday School class has done anything with marshmallows.  It turns out they had some sort of lesson that had them shooting marshmallows around the room.  That was back in December.  So one of the students reached down behind the tree and rescued the marshmallow to find that it was hard as a rock.  This caused me to think.  I challenged them to come up with some kind of lesson or illustration that we can learn from the marshmallow.  The following is what we came up with:

1.  The marshmallow represents the person who sits in church and hears the word of God, but never let it get into them and change them.  Their heart becomes hard and they just sit and do nothing forever.  (Luke 8:4-5, 12)

2.  The marshmallow represents how hard our hearts can be until God breaks through and finds a soft heart on the inside that can be receptive to the word of God.  (oh yeah, Cody bit the marshmallow after a dare and cracked it open.  He said it was soft and gooey on the inside.)  (Ezekiel 36:25-27)

3.  From a good standpoint the marshmallow could represent one who spends time in the house of God and studies His word.  The hard shell could represent God’s protection in our lives.  (Ps 18:2; 61:3; Pr 18:10)

4.  Some students who were playing with the marshmallow noticed that the smell stayed on their hands.  It’s kind of like when we mess around with the things of this world and let sin get into our lives.  Those things tend to stay with us and have a lasting effect on us.  Sometimes even after we’ve been forgiven and the spiritual consequence of sin is lifted there are some physical consequences that remain.  For example, drug abuse could cause lasting brain damage or a sexually transmitted disease could stay with you for life.  This is not to say that God’s forgiveness doesn’t overcome these things.  God’s forgiveness is greater than anything you’ve done.  It’s just that sometimes there are lasting consequences to our sin that still remain even though we are forgiven.  (2 Sam 12:13-23)

5.  Or it could be a gift or talent that God has given us.  If we use it properly it is sweet and it blesses others.  If we just let it sit and never use it then it becomes hard and useless.  No one is ever blessed by it.  (Mt 25:14-30)

6.  Also there is the representation that the marshmallow is a lost soul.  It was hidden away behind that tree for four months and no one knew it was there.  It was lost until someone reached out to it and brought it out to a place where it could be found.  We need to reach out to the lost and bring the gospel to a lost and dying world.  Only God’s love can break through the hardness to rescue a lost soul. (Luke 15)