Think and Learn
God wants us to enjoy the world that God has made for us, and appreciate the good things that are in it: the food we eat, the clean water we can drink, safe places to live and the beauty all around us. But if we are greedy and have more than our share of things and don’t want to use these things to help others, is that what God wants us to do?
If you want something – maybe some new stylish shoes like all the other kids are wearing--and maybe tell your parents that you need it, do they ever say something like, “Do you really need that, or do you just want it?” What do they mean by a question like that? Perhaps they mean something like, “People do need shoes, but you already have a perfectly good pair of shoes that still fits, so do you really need those shoes, too? Or do you just want them because they are in style and you are envious of your friend who has them?” Then they might remind you that there are lots of other kids in the world who have to walk around in worn out shoes (or shoes that are too small for their growing feet, or even barefoot) because their families don’t have the money to buy new shoes. Is this how God wants the world to be, with some kids having more shoes than they need, and other kids having no shoes or shoes with holes or that pinch their toes?
Jesus often taught lessons about how God wants us to live, using stories that he made up to teach us a point. We call them parables. A parable is a short little story that can really make us think. Most of them tell us something about how we should live to make the world the place that is the way God wants it to be. Today we have a parable called “The Foolish Rich Man”, about a man who was pretty greedy and selfish, and learned a lesson about that. You can read the parable of “The Foolish Rich Man” in the Bible at Luke 12: 13-21. A kid-friendly version of this parable can be watched on YouTube at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THPWXkJI_Rs
The foolish rich man had stored up more grain than he could ever use in a lifetime and then it all went to waste because he died before he could enjoy it. Can you think of some other examples in our modern world of situations where we might be tempted to keep so much of something nice for ourselves that we never would get to enjoy it? (For example, if you had a big birthday cake and decided not to share it with your friends and family but save it all to eat by yourself, it might get stale and have to be thrown out before you could eat it all. Can you think of other examples?) Wouldn’t it be better to share it with others who don’t have any than to try to keep it all to yourself and have most of it go to waste? Which way would Jesus want us to live?
Wonder
Has someone ever refused to share something with you, even though they had a lot of it? How did that feel?
Can you think of anything that’s enjoyed more when it’s shared?
Do
