TEACHING KIDS HOW TO BE UNSELFISH

Human love can be selfish. It is normal for us to put ourselves first and to think about our own needs. This is why we need God’s love.

God’s love or agape love is a supernatural love. It is not normal and does not act or react normally.

When someone is mean to us by their words or actions we naturally want to fight back. But we have a choice. We don’t have to retaliate. We can choose to walk in love.

• How do we teach this to our kids? 
• How do we teach them to be unselfish?

God’s love is in us and God’s love is NEVER selfish.

Jesus told us to love one another the same way that He loved us. If we walk in love we will not be selfish. We will think of others first and be kind or share our toys.

The Bible says to “prefer one another”. That means to put others before yourself. If you put others first it can seem like you are giving yourself the shaft. It seems like, “I lose if I walk in love.”

But the Bible says, “love always wins.” If you put others first, then other people will put you first. If you are nice to people then people will be nice to you. It is called the law of “sowing and reaping.”

This all sounds good, but when it comes down to the nitty, gritty how do we convey these truths to kids, so they can understand and actually put into practice?

I have done this by using Hershey Chocolate Kisses.

(Keep the bag of Chocolate Kisses hidden until you are ready to teach the lesson.)

Look what I brought to class today. (Show the bag of candy, open and take out one Chocolate Kiss.) I love chocolate. Do you know what these Chocolate Kisses remind me of? God’s love!

God loved me so much that He gave me this candy. (Begin to eat the candy and act like you don’t intend to share any of it.)

Thank You Jesus for my Chocolate Kisses. They taste so good.

Let’s think about God’s love. What are some ways to show God’s love. (Allow for response. Someone may suggest that you share your candy. But if not, have one of your assistants make this suggestion.)

Share my Chocolate Kisses! You want me to share my chocolate. But these are my Chocolate Kisses that God gave to me . I don’t want to share them. (Someone may mention that you are being selfish.)

You are right. God’s love is never selfish and I am being selfish right now. I don’t want to be selfish. I want to walk in love. I am going to share my candy with you. This is how I can show God’s love – by sharing my candy.

Ask kids to talk about ways that they have been tempted to be selfish. (Give everyone a Chocolate Kiss.)

It makes me laugh, because kids can sure spot selfishness in others.  The goal with this lesson is that they can identify selfishness in themselves.

Check out Super Church 2.0 Agape here.

(This Chocolate Kiss lesson is in our series Agape.)