This year I am helping preschoolers memorize some verses in the Bible that talk about love. They are found in 1 Corinthians 13. It had been a month since the previous chapel time I led, so I wasn't expecting much when I asked them if they recalled what we talked about before. But one kid quickly called out, 'Love is patient.' I told that young boy he won the day.
Then I told them I was going to talk about the next aspect of love, kindness, by telling them a story.
Once there were these 5 guys that were friends. But one of those friends was paralyzed. Do you know what that means? It means he couldn’t move his arms or legs.
Let’s pretend we can’t move our arms and legs. Just as an aside, I'm going to figure out how I can include this story in every chapel. Those kids all sat frozen while I told the story.
One day those friends heard that Jesus was in town. So the four friends that could move decided to pick up their friend, carry him on his bed all the way to Jesus. When they saw a big crowd, they decided to dig a hole in the roof and lower their friend right down in front of Jesus.
Jesus saw their kindness and healed their paralyzed friend. Then he was able to get up and carry his bed home. It was at this point that I told them we could all move our arms and legs again. That was also about the time I lost many of them.
That is kindness and love is supposed to be kind.
Proverbs 3:3 tells us to wear kindness around our neck. I asked them if any of them had a kindness necklace at home. To my surprise, and maybe yours, they all said they did, in fact, have such necklaces.
I don't normally call kids liars, but I did at this point and then explained what Solomon was talking about when he said we should wear kindness around our necks. That’s kind of a funny way to say it, but I think it means that God wants us to always be kind, to everyone we see.
Another verse says “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” ~Ephesians 4:32
In other words, because God was kind to us, we should be kind to others. I was going to ask them for examples, but most of them were still trying to convince me they had kindness necklaces. So I lovingly and kindly closed our time together in prayer.
Then I told them I was going to talk about the next aspect of love, kindness, by telling them a story.
Once there were these 5 guys that were friends. But one of those friends was paralyzed. Do you know what that means? It means he couldn’t move his arms or legs.
Let’s pretend we can’t move our arms and legs. Just as an aside, I'm going to figure out how I can include this story in every chapel. Those kids all sat frozen while I told the story.
One day those friends heard that Jesus was in town. So the four friends that could move decided to pick up their friend, carry him on his bed all the way to Jesus. When they saw a big crowd, they decided to dig a hole in the roof and lower their friend right down in front of Jesus.
Jesus saw their kindness and healed their paralyzed friend. Then he was able to get up and carry his bed home. It was at this point that I told them we could all move our arms and legs again. That was also about the time I lost many of them.
That is kindness and love is supposed to be kind.
Proverbs 3:3 tells us to wear kindness around our neck. I asked them if any of them had a kindness necklace at home. To my surprise, and maybe yours, they all said they did, in fact, have such necklaces.
I don't normally call kids liars, but I did at this point and then explained what Solomon was talking about when he said we should wear kindness around our necks. That’s kind of a funny way to say it, but I think it means that God wants us to always be kind, to everyone we see.
Another verse says “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” ~Ephesians 4:32
In other words, because God was kind to us, we should be kind to others. I was going to ask them for examples, but most of them were still trying to convince me they had kindness necklaces. So I lovingly and kindly closed our time together in prayer.
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