I first read about Zaat’ar in a Food Network magazine – how it was supposed to be the “new-everything-bagel seasoning.” I hadn’t heard of it before, so I looked it up and discovered that you can make your own out of spices such as thyme, sumac, sesame seeds. But other sites list other herbs and spices and say that there is actually a Zaat’ar plant.

(Another fact no one can agree on is where to put the apostrophe in the word Zaat’ar.)

The fact that intrigued me the most is that Zaat’ar is considered to be the biblical hyssop.

Remember when Christ was on the cross?

A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. (John 19:29)

Other verses say: Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. (Psalm 51:7)

Some commentators say that hyssop is an external cleansing agent. However, I discovered something fascinating in my personal research (and I truly don’t know much about this) – hyssop is medicinal for internal parasites. That seems to correlate with what the Psalmist is saying.

Anyhow back to the Zaat’ar. Rather than choosing one of the combination of spices and herbs to make my own, I ordered a bottle off Amazon. (Not sure the Israelites did that.) I ordered it from a company in Israel, so the jar took some time to get to my house. Total cost: $14.40 (that’s with shipping), which is high, but it has quite a bit in the jar.

You will notice on the label that the jar actually says “holy hyssop.” The jar’s list of ingredients includes: hyssop, sesame, elm-leaved sumac, lemon acid and salt.

So I mixed a little of the Zaat’ar with cream cheese and spread it on a toasted bagel. (One of the recipes also suggests tomato and onion in the mixture, which sounds good, but which I didn’t do.)

Could I just say – delicious?

What a fun way to teach kids about one of the herbs mentioned in the Bible.

Did you know at one time Romans soldiers’ pay was considered their salt-money? Did you know that the word salary comes from the word salt? Did you know that there is a road called Via Salaria – a road originally constructed to transport salt?

Do your kids know the Bible talks about salt?

Matthew 5:13 reads: You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

What a great discussion for the dinner table some night.

But what does it mean that we should be the salt of the earth? Bible scholars aren’t 100% sure – though a lot of meanings come through. Most think that the Lord was using the characteristics of salt to illustrate the Christian life.  At the same time, the Lord could’ve been making an overall statement about the extreme value of salt.

Let’s look at some possible ways to compare.

1. Salt is a preservative, protecting the meat or fish against decay. Back before refrigeration, salt was highly valued because of it’s ability to preserve. We are to be a preservative and by our testimony, keep others from spiritual decay.
2. Salt flavors and enhancing taste. Give your children unsalted crackers, pretzels, or some other food that they are used to eating with salt. What do they think of the taste? Is it better with salt? Why? Do we live in such a way, that others want what we have? 
3. Salt purifies. What kind of life do we live? Is our desire to follow Christ and be pure and holy in our actions?
4. Salt melts ice. In Colossians we read that our speech is to be gracious and seasoned with salt. Do we melt someone’s anger because of our own gracious response that is seasoned with salt?
5. Salt is cleansing. Again, how do we live our lives?
6. Salt adds value. At one time salt was payment for a job. Do we add value to those we meet?
7. Salt sealed convenants. One of the verses a covenant of salt is 2 Chronicles 13:5 –Ought you not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingship over Israel forever to David and his sons by a covenant of salt? Salt is a sign of friendship and unbroken promises.
8. Salt is useful and is in the makeup of many products. How useful are we to a messed-up world? What can we do to be more useful?
9. Salt creates thirst. Do we make others spiritually thirsty by the way we live?
10. Salt is necessary for life. Without salt, we would physically die. Without the message of Christ that we have to share, people will spiritually die.

A good activity for older kids (either in a classroom or personal kids) is to have them research salt and then ask them what they think the Lord meant when He said to be salt of the earth.

(Like the first part of the verse, there is debate about the last part of the verse. Maybe the Lord was talking about the Dead Sea. That salt isn’t usable and is different from salt that preserves. Or, maybe it was a rhetorical question that was common at the time, because salt can’t lose its saltiness.)

Preschoolers can learn Scripture. I know they can, because I’ve listened to them proudly repeat what they’ve memorized.

For this list, I chose verses that I think most four and fives (and some threes) could understand. They will need some explanation, but not much.

What ones would you add to the list?

THE GOSPEL                                                                                                                                           ***  that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried,           that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures  (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)

CREATION                                                                                                                                              *** And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (Genesis 1:31)

TRUST                                                                                                                                                     ***  When I am afraid,  I put my trust in you. (Psalm 56:3)

PRAISE                                                                                                                                                      *** Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. (Psalm 106:1a)

COURAGE                                                                                                                                                *** Be strong and courageous. (Deuteronomy 31:6a)

OBEDIENCE                                                                                                                                            *** Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. (Ephesians 6:1)

KINDNESS                                                                                                                                              *** Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)

THANKFULNESS                                                                                                                                                                     *** Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! (Psalm 107:1)

GOOD ATTITUDE                                                                                                                                      ***  Do all things without grumbling or disputing, (Philippians 2:14)

*** Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. (Philippians 4:4)

FRIENDSHIP                                                                                                                                                *** A friend loves at all times. (Proverbs 17:17)

Here’s a good book for an older child – mid -to late elementary.

The author, Linda Finlayson, writes a narrative including the stories of King Alfred, William Tyndall, Cameron Townsend and Jo Shetlar and how, historically, these people helped preserve God’s Word.

The book gives a glimpse of church history and an overview of how the Bible survived.   The book is written in kid-friendly language.

The book is written in story form and is factual.  Included is a glossary of not-necessarily-kid-understandable words such as: heresy,  dialect and papal bull. Also included is a detailed bibliography – not only to back up the facts, but these resources could be used for further study. Maps are also included, as is a timeline of the Bible.

This would be a great book to read together as a family. Or, if you’re a teacher, you could read a chapter each week to your class.

We’ve defined sin as disobedience to what God says in His Word.

And many kids (actually all of us) struggle with the daily temptation to sin (make the wrong choice.)

We need to teach kids (and remind ourselves) that those struggles do happen … and also teach kids ways to not give in to temptation.

Again – a definition.

Temptation is wanting to do something even though we know doing it is wrong.

Here’s what we did to teach the kids the meaning of temptation.

 One night, we gave each child two cookies on a napkin. Of course, the kids were excited!  Cookies!

 But then we told them they couldn’t eat the cookies. They couldn’t even touch them!  They couldn’t take even one little nibble or give the cookie even one little nudge.

 As the kids stared at the enticing cookies, we explained that this was temptation. They wanted to eat the cookies, but we had told them they couldn’t until we said they could. They truly wanted the treat!

 (You can try this with different ages. A sixth-grade teacher gave each member of her class a candy bar and told them they couldn’t eat it until after the lesson.)

 We didn’t make the kids wait too long – but they got the idea!

 Here are some things I like to teach kids about temptation.

*** We are tempted because the old part of us (before we knew Christ) and the new part of us  (the new creation we are in Christ) are fighting inside of us. The old part (the flesh) wants to do what’s wrong. The new part (the Spirit) wants to do what’s right. That’s why there’s a struggle.

*** Everyone is tempted. Even the Lord Jesus Christ was faced with temptation. He did not give in. He did not sin.

*** The Lord Jesus Christ counteracted Satan with Scripture. Remind kids that’s why it’s important to know Scripture. We should follow Christ’s example and quote Scripture to give us strength when tempted.

Thought: An older child (who thinks it through) might say that some temptation is good. True. We do sometimes use the word in a good way.

“I was shy, but my friend tempted me to try out for the play. I did and I loved it.”

 “I was studying for the test for hours and my sister told me I needed a break. That sounded tempting. I took the break and she was right. I needed it.”

 “The hike at camp was five miles. I hadn’t hiked that far before, but I was tempted. I’m glad I did it.”

 Explain that you’re talking about the temptation to disobey God. Even though we sometimes use the word temptation in a good way, it is usually considered to be the desire to do something wrong.

Thinking through all we’ve discussed about the glory of God this week, I came up with the following points defining the glory of God in kid-friendly language.
(Your sticking points may be different.)

1. God is wise and loving. He is our Creator and our authority.
2. God is holy and pure (without sin).
3. He is everything (perfect) we are not. We (because of our disobedience) can do nothing (we fall short) without Him.
4. Christ (God in the flesh) radiates/reflects God’s glory.
5. He invites us to trust Him and become His child. Only then do we experience His glory.

Here are some activities to solidify Romans 3:23.

*** Play a game of Things We Can’t Do.Start a fun discussion of things you can’t do. You might say something like: “I could never swim across an ocean.” Then go around the room with your class or back and forth with your personal kids and ask them to tell you what they can’t do. (I can’t jump high enough to reach the moon. I can’t eat 5,000 gallons of ice cream in five minutes. I can’t run across the country without stopping, etc.) Conclude the discussion with, “We can never reach the glory of God, His righteousness, His holiness, His goodness on our own.” Continue by explaining Romans 3:23

*** Take Josh’s suggestion (see Wednesday’s post). Josh did an object lesson with a             broken vase. That’s a great way to explain our brokenness (falling short) of God’s glory.

*** Go to Wordart.com and make a graphic showing the attributes of God. If your kids are younger, you may need to do this for them – and ask them to call out the words they want to include. Older kids could do it by themselves. You can do a small one and make copies for everyone, but if you want, they will also (for a price) convert your graphic to a poster.

*** Discuss things that radiate: the sun radiates light, a fire radiates heat, a person might radiate charm or energy. Talk about Hebrews 1:3 and how Christ is the radiance of the glory of God.

*** Teach the kids that in Greek (the language in which Paul wrote this verse), the word sin means “missing the mark.” I’ve emphasized the word disobey to explain sin, but if your kids are older or are catching on to what you’re teaching them, you could add the Greek definition.

Then do some target practice with a Nerf target set (or similar game), but make sure the target is out of reach!  (Sin is not simply missing the target by a few inches, we don’t come anywhere near it.) Talk about why they are missing the mark/target. (The target is out of reach, too far away, etc.) Emphasize that we fall short of God’s glory, no matter how much effort we put into trying.

*** Purchase a water bottle for each of the kids. Make sure you choose bottles that say “pure” or “purified” on the label. Ask the kids what that means – pure water. Ask them if they think the water is absolutely, truly, 100% pure? Why or why not?Ask: Is God 100% pure and holy? Is Christ (God in the flesh) 100% pure and holy? What difference does that make to us?

I hope this series has helped and you’ve come up with some unique ways to explain what it means to fall short of the glory of God.  (I know, I know, so MUCH I haven’t talked about on the subject, but wanted to keep to a main focus.)