As our title suggests our lesson today was about ourselves....selfishness. And how, believe it or not, everything is not about You. So many times we worry about what we want ourselves, what can make ourselves happy. The world has given the false assumption that we need to focus on ourselves, our appearance, our feelings, and what we want. However, almost every sin committed can be traced back to a selfish motive.
And the Bible tells us in Philippians 2:3, 'Do nothing, out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourself.'
We started out today with a game like charades where the kids acted out little senerio's. Half of them were being selfish and the other half was putting others first, laying aside what they wanted to do to make time for, or help another person.
We went into our lesson with a little story about a king who lived in a great castle and had a lovely kingdom. But unlike other kings, King George spent most of his time ... in the bathtub! Why? Because that's where he'd play with his favorite toy: his rubber ducky. But one ducky wasn't enough for King George. He wanted all the duckies! We found out what happens when the king made a huge mistake, deciding that the most important person in the world is, well ... himself!
For those of you familiar with veggie tales you probably recognize this version of the story, from King George and the Ducky!
This led into our story of David, and how David was a great king, treated his people right and fair. David was well liked, and with God's help had won several wars. However, one day while out on his balcony David spotted a beautiful woman, her name was Bathsheba. David loved beautiful women and already had several wives. But when he saw Bathsheba he wanted her too, even though she was alread married. David became selfish and took her anyway, this caused David to sin with Bathsheba. The story goes on to talk about Davids punishment from God because of this.
There is also a parable told to David from the prophet Nathan,
In the parable there was a rich man with many sheep and a poor man with only one little lamb. This little lamb was so special to the poor man that he treated it like his own child. This rich man did an awful thing. One day a traveler came by and he killed the poor man’s little lamb to feed the visitor. When David heard what the rich man had done, he was filled with anger. “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall die!” David declared indignantly, not knowing he was talking about himself! “You are that man,” Nathan told the king.
In the parable there was a rich man with many sheep and a poor man with only one little lamb. This little lamb was so special to the poor man that he treated it like his own child. This rich man did an awful thing. One day a traveler came by and he killed the poor man’s little lamb to feed the visitor. When David heard what the rich man had done, he was filled with anger. “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall die!” David declared indignantly, not knowing he was talking about himself! “You are that man,” Nathan told the king.
We ended with an object lesson with a mirror, on one side of the mirror was written the words, SELF. One of the greatest battles in our lives is the battle over being selfish. Oftentimes, we get so focused on our own problems that we cannot see the needs of others around us. We are so focused on ourselves we can't see the people right in front of us who may be in need.
God wants us to serve others around us to show His love to them. However, if we stay focused on ourself, we cannot even see the needs of others. Our whole vision is filled up with our own self.
God wants us to serve others around us to show His love to them. However, if we stay focused on ourself, we cannot even see the needs of others. Our whole vision is filled up with our own self.
No comments:
Post a Comment