Blacklight Bible Object Lesson: Do You See Any Sin?

Until recently, black lights in my ministry were only used a few times year, mostly when the youth were doing their annual rendition of “Arise My Love” for Easter, complete with white gloves. The other day, I was looking for an item I could use to help kids understand the concept of “hidden sins.” The verse Proverbs 28:13 that says, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy,” had really been probing my heart personally and I felt impressed to share it with my kids.

Then I found the black light! What an interesting tool for an object lesson! I went home, got a black t-shirt and I washed it with a white sherpa blanket that I had. Then I dried them together. By the time the process was over, my black shirt had plenty of lint on it. With my linty shirt and black light, I had just what I needed to bring this lesson to kids. Here’s how I did it.

I wore my black shirt to church but I wore a button down over so the lint wasn’t too noticeable right away. I wanted kids to be amazed when it was time to demonstrate. I set the blacklight on my teaching table (I have a small lamp I keep in my teaching area) and plugged it into the wall. I kept the switch off and I talked to the kids about secret sins. I said something like this:

Does anyone know what a secret sin is? Have you ever heard of a hidden sin? (Allow kids to offer answers. No matter what they say, encourage them by saying “That’s a good observation or that’s one way to think about it.”) Everyone sins, not necessarily every day, but everyone sins. The problem isn’t that we sin, it’s that we try to hide it or pretend it’s not there. God does not like it when we try to hide sins from Him. He sees everything.

Sometimes, we like the sin we do so we don’t want to quit. For example, some people like to swear, even though God has asked them not to. They do again and again. Other people have different sins. We don’t need to describe them; you and I know when we do the wrong thing. Let me show you what I mean.

See this shirt, it looks good on me! But if you look closely you can see it’s not perfect. (Discreetly unbutton your shirt to show the t-shirt. Flip on the black light.) Oh man, that’s a lot of lint. I guess this shirt wasn’t so perfect after all. The lint on this shirt is like the sins we try to hide. Maybe people can’t see them, but God can. He sees everything, but if we confess those sins to him, he will forgive us and show mercy. So what should we do: hide them or confess them?