Scripture: 1 Kings 11
Learning Objectives:
- Students will learn that although God gave Solomon great wisdom he sometimes did not use that wisdom and made poor choices.
- Students will learn Solomon disobeyed God and took wives from other countries who introduced their idols to Israel.
- Students will learn that just like Solomon, our poor choices can sometimes hurt people other than ourselves and sometimes the consequences can hurt people many years later.
- Students will learn how bad choices made now can affect others later on in life.
Guiding Question: How can making good decisions lead to positive consequences for us and others?
Materials: Anchor chart paper, markers
Procedure: Review the story of Solomon’s problems from the scriptures above. Emphasize how important it is to follow the wisdom God gives us because when Solomon did not, there were negative consequences for himself and others around him. Sometimes we may not always see what our bad choices do to others immediately, but later on in life we may see how they hurt people. Negative choices often have a “ripple effect” where the consequences go out to multiple people.
Have the students think about a poor choice the kids their age and/or adults make. This could be something they have done before or seen someone else do before. Write this on the left side of the anchor chart paper. On the right side, have another student share possible consequences for this action that would affect the person who made the choice and other people. Continue this until every person has had a chance to share/anchor chart is full.
Additional Questions: How can students understand the difference between good and bad choices?
Supplemental Activity: Label one wall “good choice” and one wall “bad choice”. Have one student stand in the middle of the room. Read situation cards where someone has made a particular decision. Have the student run to the good choice or bad choice wall depending on the decision made in the situation. Have the student explain why it was a good or bad choice. If it was a bad choice, how could it be made better? It it was a good choice, what is an example of a bad choice to avoid?