We cannot see air, just like we hide our sins so that other people cannot see them.  None of us are good because Romans 3:10 says that there is no one righteous, not even one!  And verse 23 says that we all have sinned and fallen short of God's standards.  This means that we can be as good as gold, but we can never be good enough for God.

I have some weighing scales and I'm going to tape these balloons onto it ( Tape the balloons to the strings and adjust the centre string until they balance ).  They weigh the same don't they? ( Let the children respond ).  Now, I am going to prick the nozzle of one ( Flatten the nozzle and carefully prick it with a pin and allow the air to escape ).

Look, it now weighs less than the blown-up balloon!  What have we discovered? ( Let the children respond ).  Yes, air has weight even though you cannot see it, and I can weigh it on my scale!  1 Samuel 2:3) says:

"For the Lord is a God who knows, and by Him our deeds are weighed."

The sins and bad things in our life weigh us down and our conscience soon pricks us that we have done wrong!  We cannot hide anything from God.  Samuel found this out when choosing David to replace king Saul.  Samuel 16:5-7 tells us that he saw Eliab the tall, handsome eldest son of Jesse and thought, "Surely the Lord's anointed stands here before the Lord."

But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him.  The Lord does not look at the things man looks at.  Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."  And so David was chosen as king because his heart was right with God.

King Belshazzar was the wicked king of Babylon and while he was having a feast one day.  God wrote on the wall, "You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting" (Daniel 5:25).  His sins found him out and that very night he was killed, and the Medes took over the Babylonian empire.  As sinners we deserve punishment for we read in Romans 3:26a, "For the wages of sin is death."  This means being separated from God forever!

We have found out that the air in a balloon is like the sin in our lives and it weighs us down.  We cannot escape God because He is everywhere and He sees in our hearts.  We are also found wanting as we can never measure up to God's standards.  What can we do about this?

Well, I am going to prick a hole in this blown up balloon and let the air out ( Hold the neck of the second balloon and carefully prick a hole with the pin and allow the air to escape ).  Now the balloons weigh the same again!  Isaiah 1:18 says:

"Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow."

When we ask Jesus to wash us clean, God forgives our sins.  And like air in my balloon, they no longer weigh us down.  We can then invite Jesus to come and live in our hearts and make us into one of God's children.  Romans 6:23b says, "The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Are your sins weighing you down?  Why not ask Jesus to take them away?

God bless!