Scripture: Matthew 19:16-30, Mark 10:17-31, Luke 18:18-30
Learning Objectives:
- Students will learn God wants us to put Him first in our lives.
- Students will learn money can distract you from worshipping and obeying God.
- Students will learn God expects us to be willing to sacrifice the things that are most important to us if He asks.
- Students will learn how to obey God in difficult situations.
Guiding Question: How can students determine how to obey God in difficult situations they face?
Materials: Paper, pencil, acting props
Procedure: Review the story of the Rich Young Ruler. Remind students that obeying God means we don’t get to do everything our way/get everything we want. God knows what is best for us. He knew the rich young ruler would grow spiritually if he didn’t care so much about money. Telling him to give away everything to the poor was a way for the rich young ruler to become more like the person God wanted him to be. He was unwilling to obey and please God and his money was more important.
Ask students to work together to write and perform their own “rich young ruler” type scenarios for their age group today. What might God ask people their age to do that would be difficult? After the teams have acted out their skits, discuss ways to remind yourself it is more important to obey God than to always get everything you want.
Additional Questions: How can students learn to give up distractions?
Supplemental Activity: Have the students think about what is the most distracting thing in their life that keeps them from time with God. Then have the students think about and make a plan for minimizing the distraction during the upcoming week and how they can use that time to worship God instead. The students will report back on how it went the following week.