God made the whole world and everything in it. So God is in charge of the world. He’s the king.

God is not a bossy, selfish king like some human kings. He’s kind and loving and good. That’s why the world he made is full of good things.

God makes people too, and gives us life. That means he’s our king. So we should thank him and respect him. We should read what God says in the Bible, and do what he says.

The trouble is, we don’t like doing what God tells us to do…

Even though God is the true king, we don’t want him to be our king.

Instead of thanking him and respecting him, we all say ‘no’ to him. We do what we want to do, instead of what God wants us to do. We pretend that we are the king instead of God. This is what the Bible calls ‘sin’.

Sin causes lots of problems.

By trying to do things our own way, we hurt each other and make a big mess of God’s good world.

What do you think God will do about this?

It matters to God that we don’t respect and obey him as king. It also makes him angry that we are selfish, and hurt each other, and make a mess of his world.

God won’t let us keep saying ‘no’ to him and pretending to be our own king instead.

One day, God will show everyone that he is the only true king. He will set up a wonderful kingdom that never ends. And on that day, everyone who has been saying ‘no’ to him will be shut out of his kingdom forever.

We all deserve God’s punishment.
But there’s good news…

God loves the world and the people he made. He loves us so much that he has done something to rescue us from the punishment we deserve.

Many years ago, God sent his own Son, Jesus, into the world. Jesus didn’t say ‘no’ to God. He always did what God wanted him to. And so he didn’t deserve to be punished like the rest of us.

But Jesus was punished. He was killed on a cross. God loved us so much that he punished his own Son Jesus instead of us. We didn’t deserve it, but Jesus took our punishment for us.

But there’s more good news.

When people die, we don’t see them anymore. They stay dead.

But even though Jesus died, God brought him back to life again, and lots of people saw him and even touched him.

Then Jesus left our world and went back to be with God, his Father. And God made Jesus the king of the whole world.

Now, as the living king, Jesus offers to forgive us for all our sin. We can become his friends, respecting him and thanking him.

One day, King Jesus will come back to our world. He will punish everyone who is still saying ‘no’ to God, but welcome his forgiven friends into his good kingdom forever.

What does all this mean for us?

There are really only two ways to live.

1. The first way is to keep saying ‘no’ to God and pretending to be your own king. But if you do that, you won’t win, because God is God. God will shut you out of his kingdom forever.
2. The second way is to stop saying ‘no’ to God, and to ask God to forgive you. Because Jesus took your punishment, you can trust that God will forgive you as his friend—that’s his promise.

You can then start living with God’s son, Jesus, as your king—respecting and obeying him. You can look forward to being in God’s good kingdom forever.

So who will be your king?

• Say sorry to God for not treating him as your king.
• Say thank you to God for sending Jesus to die so that you could be forgiven.
• Ask God to please forgive you, and help you respect and obey him by living with Jesus as your king. You can trust God to help you.

You can always trust Jesus to be a great king. Living his way, and doing what he says in the Bible, is the best way to live. That’s what you will want to start doing now—what your king, Jesus, tells you to.

(For more help, see ‘Where to next?’)

You can say to God: Dear God, I’m sorry that I haven’t treated you as my king. I’m sorry that I’ve said ‘no’ to you by not doing what you say. Thank you for sending Jesus to die on the cross to take away my punishment. Thank you that he is the living king of everything and everyone. Please forgive me, and help me to live with Jesus as my king from now on. Amen.

Let’s now read it in the Bible …