“Money makes the world go round.” While that may be true, as Christians we are called to more. Jesus talks about money over and over again, showing us that our view of money demonstrates what happens in our hearts. I Timothy 6:10 warns us of the trap that money can be: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” It is imperative that we teach a proper view of money to our children. This object lesson will assist you in that.
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. On occasion, Church leadership has asked me on Saturday night to teach Sunday School the next morning without having materials available until the 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:
- Money from the United States — paper bills and coins
- Money from other countries or pictures of money
The Main Idea:
God tells us in the Bible, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs” (1 Timothy 6:10). We need to be careful that we have a healthy relationship with money.
The Lesson Introduction:
Pass out different kinds of money for the students to look at carefully. Do you see the money that I have put on your desk? Can you read what the name of the money is and what country is it from? Ask several of the students to share. They can also pass around the money so they can all see who colorful it is, where it is from, how much it is worth, and what pictures are printed on the fronts and backs.
The Main Lesson:
I love looking at printed money from around the world. It is fun to see what other countries have for their currencies, but we need to be careful with our money. Why? Because God warns us in the Bible that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. What kinds of evil happen when you love money? (Let the children answer — stealing, selfishness, jealousy, murder, hate, etc.) You see, we need money to buy things — a place to stay, clothing, food, and more, but some people love money more than anything. They will love money and things more than people or even God Himself which will cause them to sin.
The Main Point:
Our first love needs to be God/Jesus and not money and things.
If I gave you a paper and asked you to make a wish list — a list of things that you would like — I am sure that you could create a list for me. It might have new clothes or new shoes, a video game, something for your doll, a trampoline, a new bike… the list might actually be quite long. While it isn’t wrong to like things, if things are our focus and we think about things all the time, we may have a heart problem. The Bible tells us that we need to be careful about what we love. God needs to have first place in our hearts and not our things or even our family. The Bible says, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart also be” (Matthew 6:21).
Now let’s read I Timothy 6:6-8. It says, “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” These verses tell us to be satisfied with what we have.
Have you ever seen a hearse, a vehicle that takes the coffin to a funeral home or church? They are in charge of taking the deceased one to the church or the grave site when it is time to bury them. Have you ever seen one of those vehicles towing a trailer full of the person’s things? No, that would be crazy, right? The reason is that you can’t take any of your things with you when you die. You only use them when you are here on the earth. When you die, those things stay here, so it doesn’t make sense for us to build up as much as we can. In the end, those things will not matter… you can’t take things or money with you.
So, we need to be careful what our heart loves. Our love for God and His Word needs to be SO GREAT that our love for things seems small. When we know the Bible and love to obey it, our desires will change, and we will love God over money and things.
Next time you see money, I want you to think about how God wants us to live. He doesn’t want us all concerned about having lots of money or lots of things. God wants us to love Him and His Word. He wants us to be generous and be content with what we have since we can’t take it all with us when we die. Truly, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.”
Let’s Pray.
If you liked this object lesson, look for more easy object lessons to teach children HERE.
What is a Biblically-Minded Family? Learn our eight characteristics of a Biblically-Minded Family HERE.
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