Valentines Day is a fun and easy time to share a message with children and adults about how much Jesus loves them, but are you looking for a fresh idea for this year? You have come to the right place! This year try using this object to teach how each of us has a God-shaped hole that only a relationship with Jesus can fill. He is the only One who can truly satisfy us and make our hearts whole, even though we try to fill that void with food, friends, family, books, or other things that may be harmful to our bodies. This illustration will surely make an impression with your audience for years to come.
My Goal of These Object Lessons:
I designed these lessons to give you quick material to teach when you are in need of something but don’t have time for a lot of planning. Church leadership has asked me at times on Saturday night to teach Sunday School the next morning. Having these simple object lessons will help you be more prepared when you need to teach on the spur of the moment — whether in your own home, church, or ministry.
Materials:
- A piece of colored construction paper (maybe red, pink or purple)
- Scissors
- Fold the paper in half and cut out a large heart then also cut out a cross from the large heart. Take the large heart and make puzzle pieces from it. Your audience will put the heart together. (The number of pieces that you make will depend on the age of your students. You may want to have a print on one side of the paper as well to help them put the puzzle together, or another way for them to know which side is up. You can also give them the outline of the heart, the scraps from when you cut it, as a border so they know how big it will be.)
The Main Idea:
Our hearts have an empty space in them that can only be filled with a relationship with Jesus.
The Lesson Introduction:
Welcome. We are so glad you are here today for our Valentines Lesson. I have a special activity for you as we get started. Here are the pieces to a puzzle that makes a heart. I will pass them out to each of you, and I would like you to work together to make it whole.
(The students will now work together on the puzzle to fit the pieces together. It may take several minutes depending on how hard the puzzle is. Make sure that you try it first before the lesson to be sure that it is not too challenging for the audience.)
When they get to the end of the puzzle, they will realize that there is actually one piece that is missing. It is in the shape of a cross.
The Main Lesson
You are right. There is a part of the puzzle that IS missing… it is a cross. It is right here. (Fit in the missing piece so all of the students can see where it goes.) Let’s go back to our seats so we can continue the lesson.
This paper heart that you made is kind of like each one of our spiritual hearts inside us. Our hearts have a missing piece. People trying lots of ways to fill that spot, but each thing they try leaves them feeling empty. Some people try sports, food, family, friends, partying, reading, video games and more. Those things can never fill that space because God meant for that place to be filled by Him. But how does God make our hearts whole or how does He fill that hole in our spiritual hearts?
First, we must realize that we are sinners. (Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”) We do things every day that are against God’s laws. We do things, say things, and think things that are naughty. These things are called sin. God is a holy God, though. He has never done anything wrong. He can’t ever do anything wrong or bad. God does not and cannot sin. He can’t even be near sin.
That is bad news for us. We can’t be with God because of our sin. BUT Jesus made a way for us. Jesus is God and came to this earth as a man. He never even did one bad thing — or even had a sinful thought. Jesus died on the cross as a punishment for sin — not sin that He did but the sin that you and I did. God needed Jesus to pay for our sins to be forgiven by dying for us. (John 3:16, “For God so love the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”)
Jesus tells us that we need to repent of our sin which means that we need to turn away from it and ask God to forgive our sins. (Acts 3:19, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out…”) We need to stop doing the things that we used to do, and we need to start obeying the things that God wants us to do. When you ask Jesus to forgive your sins and be your Lord, He fills the space in your heart and makes you whole. You no longer have that emptiness in your life. You don’t have that missing piece.
(Continue teaching the plan of salvation as they have questions and as they seem to understand.)
The Conclusion:
All of our spiritual hearts have a piece missing. The piece isn’t shaped like a cross, though. But the spiritual part of us longs to be with God. We fill it with lots of other things, but Jesus is the only one who can satisfy our hearts. I thought was important for us to talk about our hearts this Valentines. We see hearts all around us. I want you to remember, though, that our hearts are broken or have a piece missing when we don’t have a relationship with Jesus.
Do you want to ask Jesus to forgive your sin, to repent from your sin, and make Jesus the Leader of your heart? If so, talk to me after class so I can pray with you.
Let’s pray to end our teaching time.
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Our special Valentines Day tradition will bring more love but less candy into your house this year. Check it out here so you can add this to your Valentines Day traditions as well!
Are you looking for good books for your children this Valentines Day? Find our list of the best Christian Books for Valentines Day here.
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