This heart reminds me of you. When the Bible uses the word heart, God is talking about the real you that thinks, feeds, loves and makes choices.

This heart looks nice and clean, doesn’t it? It could belong to someone who does very well in school, tries to obey the rules and is kind and obedient.

People would say this is a very good person and that God would let them into Heaven just because of his goodness.

But the Bible says, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” God sees and knows what no one else can. He knows what you think, feel and the plans you make.

Many people hide sin in their hearts which makes it look dark like this one. A heart full of lying, cheating, stealing, gossiping, hatred…

1 John 1:5 says "God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.” This verse means that there is no darkness in God because He is perfect—without any sin.

God says sin must be punished and that punishment is separation from Him in a place called Hell. However, God does not want you to go to that place because He loves you so much.

He made a way for your sins to be forgiven by sending Jesus Christ His only son to earth who died on the cross. If you believe Jesus is the son of God who paid for all your sins, you can tell God today and He will forgive you.

The Bible says, "In him (Jesus) we have…the forgiveness of sin” (Ephesians 1:7).

A prayer in the Bible says "Wash me and I will be whiter than snow” (Psalm 51:7) and Jesus is the only one who can wash away your sin.

On Christmas Day as we celebrate the birth of Jesus, let us always remember the reason why He came on Earth. He came and took away all the sins of the world so that we have everlasting life.

Adapted from Teach Kids