Bible Lesson for Children: True Giving

Introduction to the Story

Our story today is found in the Gospel of Mark 12:41-44, it illustrates the profound value of true giving from the heart rather than the amount given. This lesson taught by Jesus is important not only for children but also adults. It shows us what it really means to give. This time of year, most people are thinking about Christmas and might be deciding what gifts to buy their families. When I thought about giving and what giving really should be all about this is the lesson God laid on my heart. To go along with this story, I have two object lessons that are low prep, you will most likely have what you need on hand already.

Story Lesson

Jesus was in the temple teaching the people and his disciples like he often did. He sat down near the treasury, which is what we would call an offering plate. He watched as the crowds came in and put their money in the treasury to help support the temple. The temple would be where they would go to worship God, pray, and learn about God's laws. It was kind of like going to church. He saw many rich people come and put lots of money in. Jesus noticed a poor widow, (someone whose husband died). Widows did not have a lot of money and often had to have other family members provide for them. The widow only put in two small coins that were hardly worth anything. They are called mites which is even less than two pennies. Seeing this Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “This woman has given more than all these rich people who are putting money in the treasury".

Question: Boys and girls how could that be? If all the rich people gave tons of their money, how is it that Jesus is telling his disciples that the widow gave more?

Jesus explained that the rich people gave large amounts of money, but they still had lots of money left. The poor widow gave everything she had; she gave her all!

Object Lessons

I love making lessons relatable to the children as much as possible. This not only helps them stay engaged in the story, but it also helps them to remember what the real meaning behind the story is. I had two small object lessons for this story. I wanted to point out three main points of giving:

1. How and what we can give to others

2. What we can give to God

3. What God gives to us

To demonstrate what we can give to others, I made a list of things we can give to others that would be easy for the kids to understand. I wrote each thing on an envelope and put a picture of each thing in the envelopes along with some examples written on the back. To make it extra exciting I put the envelopes in a decorative gift bag that I had set up on my props table. I had a few of the children pick one envelope each out of the bag and take the picture out to show others what was inside. For example, one envelope had a picture of a watch on it. I then gave the children some examples of how they could give others their time. Such as taking time to pray for someone, make them a birthday card or even offering to help go over to clean someone's house.

After we went through all the envelopes in the bag, I pulled out a secret envelope that said, "What we can give God" on it. Inside I put a picture of a heart. I explained to the children that just like the Widow who gave her all, God wants our all. Our all being our whole heart. When our heart belongs to God, we will want to do everything to please him and walk in his ways. It also shows an act of faith to give God our heart. Some people might be nervous to trust God with such a sacred thing.

Clean up concept

Finally, we came to our last question. What is God's gift to us? I used the famous verse John 3:16 to help explain this part of the lesson. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

I explained what the verse means and who Jesus is. When we have new children present, I always try to make sure they know who he is. I reminded the children of Jesus' purpose for coming down to earth and how he took the greatest penalty by dying on the cross for our sins. We discussed how sin makes our heart dirty and it takes the blood of Jesus to cleanse us from sin. When we give our sin spotted heart to God, he gives us a new clean heart. To bring this picture to life we used some tools to help us demonstrate. I often like to have my husband assist me in this part of the lesson. We prepared beforehand two bowls of water. One to represent our heart before Jesus cleanses us from sin and another for after we have been saved.

You can dig up some dirt for this part or use cocoa powder or whatever you think of or have on hand. We used some potting soil we had. I made a list of examples of some sins children can relate too. Such as stealing, lying, hurting their siblings, and even disobedience to parents. Each time I gave the example of a sin my husband added some dirt to the first bowl of water, and I emphasized how the dirt is like sin. It makes our heart dirty and unclean before God. After going through the examples, we pulled out the other bowl with clear water and referred to Jesus' blood cleansing our sins and making our heart clean again. The kids really enjoyed this part, and it definitely grabbed their attention. You could do this same concept but with a t-shirt instead. Marking blots on the t-shirt and referring to those blots as sin. Then pulling out a new t-shirt and using it as a symbol of Garments of Salvation.

To end our lesson, I let the children know that if they aren't sure what God wants them to do or not do and what God considers sin, they can read their Bible and even personally ask God. Since we had new children present, I also explained what prayer is and how God never sleeps but is always ready for us to talk to him and how much he desires us to talk with him.

If you have stayed until the end my hope and prayer is that this lesson gave you some inspiration while you teach other littles ones about true giving and what it means.

Love, Sister Olivia