Larry the Cucumber

And, you know, a simple way to maybe begin explaining idolatry to a small child might be to say something like, "Honey, idolatry is when a person or thing is loved more than God, wanted more than God, desired more than God, treasured more than God, or enjoyed more than God." It's also important that we help children understand that we are all sinners with restless souls in search of satisfaction, but nothing can satisfy us more than God, which is why we are warned in John, uh, for, sorry, 1 John 5:21, "Dear children, keep yourselves from idols." The good news is that whining provides a valuable opportunity to teach our children to communicate with self-control and, even more importantly, to show them their need for the hope and grace of the gospel that delivers us all from the deep-rooted sin of idolatry.

You know, something that just popped into my head when you were talking about, like, the way that we can explain what idolatry is to children, um, about it's enjoyed more than God, loved more than God, and all of that, something else that popped into my head was an episode [laughs] of VeggieTales when Larry kept wanting all of these things, like a dirt bike and a jet ski and all of those things, and Bob just looked at him and said...

Bob the Tomato, if for anybody who doesn't know.

Bob the Tomato looked at Larry the Cucumber and said, "Well, Larry, how many things do you need to be happy?" So that also might be a very simple way to explain it to kids, just to be like, "Well, honey, idolatry is when you feel like you need something other than God to be happy."

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Sorry about that.

Now, if you ask me who Bob and Larry are, I got you.

Who are they? Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber.

Never heard of them.

I watched The Simpsons, guy.