Good vs Evil Heart
I enjoy making simple, short Bible lessons for my children to teach them values from God's Word. This is a recent lesson I taught them that I thought you might enjoy sharing with your children or Sunday School class. We have a poster I made in our home that we refer to from time to time as a reminder of the lessons we learned.
Memory Verse:
Luke 6:45 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.
Lesson:
1. Have the children memorize the verse.
2. Discuss the meaning of the verse.
3. Give examples of how a good heart speaks and acts. Do the same for an evil heart.
4. Ask how the children how they can apply this in their lives. What can they do to show others of who they are on the inside? Are we really serving Jesus when we act with bad attitudes and actions or are we serving self?
This verse has an obvious application to children as well as adults. What we say and do reflects who we are on the inside. If our words and actions are negative and bad, it reflects the turmoil in our souls. You can discuss this in further depth with older students. Look in your own family, community and church to find examples of people who despite their problems reflect love, faith, hope and trust. The children can write a letter of admiration to uplift this person. I do not recommend looking for examples of an evil heart as this will lend itself to negatively judging others instead of comparing themselves to the example of Christ. Instead, ask them to do silent self-examinations. Tell them to silently think of ways they can improve themselves.
Make a Visual:
Materials needed:
red, green and black magic markers
poster board
Write the verse across the top in green. Green represents growth. Our goal as Christians should be to continue growing in Christ. Then draw two hearts underneath, one colored red and the other colored black, being careful to leave room for the next step. Have arrows of corresponding colors coming out of the appropriate heart pointing to qualities you would see in each. You will write these in as the children think of them during class time. Or, you may want to have each child make their own poster to put in their rooms to remind them of this lesson.
Some of the examples my children came up with for a attitudes/actions of a good heart are: putting others first, peace, happiness, patience, complimenting each other, using manners, joy, love, praising God, kindness, modesty, thankfulness, etc.
Some of the examples they came up with for attitudes/actions of an evil heart are: putting self first (selfishness), worry, anger, immodesty, hurtful words, greed, bad attitudes, bad thoughts, using bad language, laziness, coveting, complaining, criticizing, impatience, etc.