Be The Hero!

In every story, there is one person who stands out from the rest.  This person is the one that lives by a different code, makes sacrifices that others won't, and makes the world a better place.  This person is the hero. 

This past Sunday, we began a new series in the Kids Church (1st-6th grades) called Be The Hero.  Over the next 6 weeks, the kids are going to be looking at the attributes of a hero, based on the definition of love in 1 Corinthians 13.  The kids are going to learn that the hero is content, honoring, selfless, cool-headed, forgiving, and protective.

Our goal in this series is to teach kids that God has called us all to be heroes in the lives of our friends, families, and acquaintances.

In our first week of the series, we learned that The Hero is Content.  We talked about how jealousy hurts our relationships with others because it means instead of wanting good things for others, we are focused on ourselves.  We also learned that jealousy hurts our relationship with God because it means we are not satisfied with the blessings he has already given us.

We talked about Jesus' teaching on Treasures in Heaven (Luke 12:13-34).  The kids learned that Jesus wants us to focus on the Kingdom of God, rather than material possessions that do not last.

Our memory verse for this week is, "It's healthy to be content, but envy can eat you up." -Proverbs 14:30 (CEV)

Here's what we discussed in our small groups:

• Have you ever felt really jealous?
• Why is important to be content?
• When we focus on what we don't have, we lose sight of the ways that God has blessed us.
• As a group, we came up with a long list of the ways that each of us are blessed.  We pointed out that every kid is blessed in different ways.
• How can jealousy keep us from being true friends?
• When we are jealous of our friends, we don't truly want what's best for them.  A true friend wants others to be blessed.
• We asked each kid to think of a close friend and then come up with a way to pray for that friend to be blessed.  We encouraged the kids to pray that their friends would be more blessed than they are.

This coming Sunday, the kids will learn that The Hero Honors Others, as we discuss what it means to encourage and build people up, rather than tearing them down.