God's Word in My Heart (9 page)

When was the last time you gave up something to help a
friend?

Jesus g
a
ve us two laws.
First, love the Lord. Second, love your neighbor.

Giving up your life is real love. Jesus did that. He gave up
His life for us.

Jesus told about a good man. He saw a hurt man by the road.
He helped the man.

This is called sacrif
i
ce.
Sacrif
i
ce is giving to help others.
Sacrifice is part of love. It makes Jesus happy.

Show me what I can sacrif
i
ce
to help someone.

When was the last time you helped someone?

What did you do?

What is the best way you can help others?

Many people do not like to serve others. But Jesus taught us
to serve. Jesus washed dirty feet. He served others. He taught us to serve.

We all have
“
gifts.”
These are things we are good at. We are to use our “gifts.
”
We use them to serve others.

Help me to use my gifts to serve others.

How do you feel when one of your friends is sad?

What do you do?

The early Christians liked to be together. They shared with
each other. They gave things to each other. They shared the good times. They
also shared the bad times.

Peter and John were in jail. This was a bad time. All the
people were sad. Soon they were set free. Then people were happy.

We can share with others, too. We can share with people in
our church.

Let me share something important with a friend.

What do you do when people are mean to you?

We should be kind to everyone. Some people are not kind to
us. We should even be kind to them.

Some people are not this way. They try to pay others back.
Jesus does not
l
ike this. He does not want
us to act this way. He wants us to obey Him.

If we obey, we are acting like Jesus. This makes Jesus
happy.

Help me be kind to those who are
m
ean
to me.

Have you ever helped someone who was mean to you?

What did you do? Why?

Life was hard for the first Chr
i
stians.
Some people hated Jesus. They were mean.

Jesus told the Christians what to do. He said, “Be kind to
your enemies. Pray for those who are mean to you.
”

It worked. They prayed for their enemies. Then they did not
act so mean. God helped the Christians to be nicer, too. We should do this,
too.

When people are mean, help me to pray for them.

When have you had trouble doing the right thing?

Why was it hard?

Sometimes it is hard to do the right thing. Joseph loved
God. One day it was hard for him to obey God. What could Joseph do?

Joseph ran away. Then he could obey God.

Sometimes it is hard for us to obey God. But we can do what
Joseph did. Run away!

Keep me from places where I might do wrong.

When was the last time you thought about doing something
wrong?

Did you do it? Why? Why not?

How can we keep from doing the wrong thing?

When Joseph was tempted, he ran away. Sometimes that is
best. We can play w
i
th other friends.

David was tempted to do wrong. He prayed.

When Jesus was tempted to do wrong, He quoted from the
Bible.

God wants us to obey Him. We may need help to do the right
thing. God will help if we ask Him.

Help me when I am tempted to do wrong.

How do you know the right thing to do?

Is it easy to always know what is right?

Jesus was in the desert. He was tempted to do wrong. He used
God
’s
Word. It helped Him do the right thing.

The Bible is God’s Word. The Bible
will
help us do the right thing. It can help us obey God.

Everyone is tempted to do wrong. We can use the Bible to
win.

Let the Bible guide me to obey You.