Illustration of Repentance and Forgiveness: Our relationship to God is something like this rope, with God on one end and us on the other. (Have a volunteer take God’s end of the rope.) When we sin, we rebel against God; it’s like we sever the relationship. (Cut the rope, visibly.) But when we repent God forgives us and our relationship is restored. (Tie together the two ends of the rope and illustrate that the rope has become shorter.) Life – my life – is a series of knots; of being broken and then fixed again – of being repentant and receiving forgiveness. And if we keep short accounts with God; if our times between ‘confessions’ become shorter – just as the rope becomes shorter – we actually draw closer to God; we grow in holiness.