CrossKids Devo | Rich Fool
Activity – How RU Doing
Draw a line on a sheet of paper. Place a 1 on the left end of the line, a 10 on the right, and a 5 in the middle. As kids arrive, ask them to pencil in their initials on the line.
Say: If your day was so awful you wish you'd slept through it, place your initials by the 1. If it was a great day and you wish you could repeat, put your initials by the 10. Place your initials anywhere on the line that shows how you feel today. Bible Time – Rich Fool – Luke 12:16-21 A crowd had formed around Jesus, people pushing and elbowing to get near enough to hear. And a voice cried out from the crowd: "Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father's estate with me!" A practical request--but one easily settled by law and custom. Jesus saw something lurking beneath the request and that's what he addressed: greed. More specifically, how concern about wealth on earth gets in the way of being rich in a relationship with God. Keeping God first is more than just a set of rules. It's more than doing the right thing at the right time. It's doing the right thing at the right time for the right reason. And that reason is a deepening love for God.
Through today's story you'll help children discover what a rich fool should have discovered: it's a good idea to keep God first! Say: Good news! A newspaper reporter is coming any minute to interview you. Word has gotten out about how you're going to put up some new barns on your farm. Wait . . . you don't know anything about this, do you?
Explain to kids that they'll play the part of a successful farmer, and you'll play the part of a newspaper reporter. They've got to become very familiar with the details.
Read: Luke 12:16-19
Explain that any details they're asked about will have to fit with the larger story--that they grow wheat and probably some other crops, and they're building bigger barns. In other words, they're rich! But other details? Those they can make up.
Pull on your reporter hat and pretend a pencil is a microphone. Then ask:
How long have you been in farming?
Why do you think your fields have such large harvests?
How many people do you hire to work on your farm?
What crops do you grow?
How large will your new barns be? When will they be finished?
Now that you're rich, what will you do?
Were you surprised about the announcement?
Your children won't know quite how to respond to the last question. You may hear, "What announcement?"
Say: Oh, you thought I was from the business page of the paper. I'm not. I write the obituaries. I write about people who've just died. Or in your case, people who are about to die. I guess you didn't hear the rest of Jesus' story. Let's hear it now!
Read: Luke12:20, 21
Say: So, Mr. Rich Farmer, how would you answer these questions?
What do you think your bigger barns will do for you now?
What matters more: your riches or your friendship with God?
Is it ever too late to put God first? Explain.
Pull off your hat. Thank your kids for playing the part of the rich farmer. Say: Our farmer friend discovered--too late--that riches don't take the place of loving and serving God. You can't trust money to get to Heaven! For that you have to put God first!
Pray: Ask: Is it OK to have stuff and to have money? Give children time to respond. Say: Money isn't good or bad. It is just . . . money. What matters most is the place money has in your life and what you do with the money you have. Let's thank God for the money he's given to us and to our families. And let's tell him that when it comes to money, we'll put God first.
Ask children to pray with their palms open and up, as a symbol of their willingness to give all they have to God. Ask children to briefly pray aloud, mentioning one thing they have that they consider valuable--and offering it to God. Close the prayer time by doing the same yourself.