A Good Analogy for Teaching Kids to Obey God

A Good Analogy for Teaching Kids to Obey God

This past weekend, I was blessed to be able to share 4 sessions at a children’s retreat in the mountains. I was teaching on how to grow in godly character. And teaching kids to obey God was part of my lesson.

Before I shared my lesson on the the godly character trait of loyalty, I shared the Bible verse of James 1:22, which says: Do not merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves, but do what it says. We sang a fun song that I had written for it called “Do What it Says” and did some cool moves.

Afterwards, I began sharing that God wants us to put into practice what we learn from His Word, the Bible. God calls us to obey Him because He loves us.


Many children and adults look at God as a cranky and demanding father who wants to take all the fun and joy out of life. This couldn’t be further from the truth!

Teaching kids to obey God should give you the opportunity to show how much God truly loves them. If God asks you to stay away from something or go towards something, then each command He gives is for our very BEST – ALWAYS!

His commands and our obedience will bring great freedom and a greater knowledge of how much God loves us.

I then proceeded to give the following analogy while teaching kids to obey God. I call it the “Hot Iron” analogy.

The Hot Iron Analogy

Let’s pretend you have a baby sister or brother. You are in the laundry room with mom who has been ironing your clothes. Suddenly, Mom has to leave the room to take care of something in the kitchen. She asks you to watch your sister or brother and tells you stay away from the iron.




Mom leaves the room and you are alone with your sibling. You continue playing with your game, but then look up to see your sibling reaching for the iron! What do you say?

At this point, I wait for the kids to respond. They all yelled out, “Stop! Don’t touch that iron! You’ll get burned!”

I then tell them that all those things would be the right commands to give to your little brother or sister.

Then I ask the kids, “Do you want your sister or brother to obey you?” They all give a resounding, “Yes!”

I then say, “Of course you want them to obey you, because you know they could get seriously hurt. You are commanding them to stop something that you know will bring them harm.”

I continue saying, “Because you are older and know more than your little sister or brother, you are trying to protect them out of love for them. God does the same thing. We might think we know what is best for our lives, but God is all-knowing and all wise. He loves us more than we will ever know. Therefore we can trust Him and obey Him.”

The “Hot Iron” analogy worked. I could tell the kids were really listening. So, use it yourself the next time you are teaching kids to obey God.