Caught! That sinking feeling in your gut when you know you’ve done wrong, and you just got called out for it. What you do next makes all the difference. Here’s what you need to talk about it with your kids this week:

• The passage: 2 Samuel 11:1-12:14; Psalm 51
• key verse: Psalm 47:7-8.
• Theme: God forgave David when he repented of his sin.
• The big picture question: “Who Is Our King?”
• The big picture answer: “Jesus is our King forever, and He rules over the world.”

The story this week is the famous story of David’s sin with Bathsheba and his murder of her husband Uriah the Hittite. David committed one sin, then to keep from getting caught he committed another. But David could not hide from God and his sin was called out by Nathan. Unlike Saul, who sinned and then looked for excuses and blame, David knew he was caught, confessed that he sinned, and expected the judgment of God.

Sharing your story of your own sinfulness can be tricky with our kids. You don’t want to glorify the dark passages of your past, but it’s important that your kids understand that we are all sinners, even mom and dad. When you talk about your sin with your kids, focus on the feelings rather than the actual events. Your kids don’t need to know all of the sordid details of the things you’ve done. But they need to see that you felt remorse, that you had to face consequences, that there was restoration and healing from God.

Make sure to read Psalm 51 to your kids this week. Walk through what confession and repentance looks like and feels like. Psalm 51 is a wonderful guide for repentance. It begins with recognition of our sinful state (v. 1-6), moves to a plea for cleansing and restoration (v. 7-12), and ends with a look toward the future, both his changed behavior (v. 13-17) and God’s wonderful restoration of all thing s(v. 18-19). I think we need to teach our children how to say sorry. Sorry to each other and sorry to God.

Have a wonderful week.