What Will You Give Jesus This Christmas?
By Timothy BrownObject: An empty box wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper, small sheets of paper to hand out, pencils or crayons
Scripture: 1 Samuel 12:24
Lesson:
- (Show the gift box.) For a gift to be meaningful, it has to be from the heart. Today's verse talks about serving God with all your heart.
- One way to do that is to consider all the great things he has done for you. Let's take a moment and see if you can list at least 15 great things Jesus has done for you.
- With those thoughts in mind, let's now see if we can list 10 to 15 gifts you can give to Jesus to say thanks. Try to be specific. What can you give to Jesus on Christmas day? (It'll be helpful to write them out so the children can see them.)
- This gift box I'm holding is empty right now. It represents what you and I will give Jesus this Christmas. I've got some slips of paper to hand out and what I'd like you to do is look at our list and come up with at least one thing you will give to Jesus this year. Write it down or draw a picture of it on the paper. You can choose from the list or come up with one on your own.
- Give the children time to record their gift idea.
- Now is the time we can give that gift to Jesus. We're going to have a period of silence and I'd like each one to pray silently. Your prayer will go something like this: Dear Jesus, this Christmas I want to give you __________ (tell him what your gift is). Thanks for all you do for me. This is something I want to do for you. Amen
- When you're done praying, you can come up and put your paper in the box to show that you are serious about giving this gift to Jesus.
- Show that the box is no longer empty. In many households this Christmas, Jesus won't get anything. People will forget all about him even though it's his birthday. This box shows that here and in your households, Jesus is getting a present.
- Of course, the best present you can give him is yourself. (You can share the gospel here if you'd like.)