Family Movie Devotionals: Toy Story 4

“I’m trash!” Forky yells, over and over again. Forky believes that he belongs in the garbage can. People keep telling him he’s a toy, but he doesn’t understand. How could he be a toy when his body is literally made of garbage? But Forky is wrong. The little girl Bonnie, who created him, gets to decide what he is. Whether Forky believes it or not, he is Bonnie’s toy because he belongs to her.

Sometimes we can be a lot like Forky. We can look at ourselves and think, “I’m trash!” Maybe you think you’re not smart enough, or not strong enough. Maybe you wish you had more stuff, or that you were better looking. Maybe someone makes fun of you, and it makes you feel bad about yourself. All of these things can make us feel like trash. The good news is that none of those things are true! Just like Forky, we are not defined by what we think we are, or by what other people say about us. Our creator decides who we are. And we have a reason to celebrate, because our creator is God, and He loves us more than anything!

The Bible says, “We are God’s masterpiece. He has created us new in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:10). God is a perfect creator who doesn’t make mistakes. He does not make trash! God loves you so much, and He had a plan when He made you. This doesn’t mean you’re perfect. We all sin and fall short of God’s perfection. But when Jesus died on the cross, He took all our imperfections away. When we are made new in Jesus, God sees us as perfect. There is nothing you can do that will make God love you less.

Forky only realizes he’s a toy when he experiences how much Bonnie loves him. So when we feel bad about ourselves, when we feel like we’re not good enough, when we feel like trash, we need to remember that we belong to God. And when we experience God’s love, He shows us that we’re not trash, we are His masterpiece.

These devotionals are resources you can use to teach your kids about Jesus! Movies have a unique ability to connect to and influence children, and we want to use this to advance God's Kingdom. These are designed for you to read with your children after you watch the movie. We pray these will be used to teach children in fun ways that they can easily understand. We hand these out at our monthly Community Movie Nights, where we show a free family-friendly movie (see our events page for upcoming dates).