ELEMENTARY KIDS & FAMILIES date
1.2
We are naturally drawn to do the things that we are made for.
Inspire (for parents) When my daughter was three years old, she asked my husband and me if she could come to “big church” with us instead of going to her Sunday school class. I assumed she just didn’t want to leave us. But when I asked her why she wanted to come with us, she said, “Because, Mom, you guys sing songs to Jesus in there. I want to do that.” (At the time, our church didn’t include worship songs in its children’s services).
sense to her was to worship Him. Her heart knew what it was created for. The heartfelt worship of my daughter reminded me that God simply created us to do certain things. We are naturally drawn to do the things that we are made for. He has made us a people who need Him. He loves us and has been so good to us. Something in each of us just knows that the One who created us deserves our worship, love, and praise. God created us to worship Him!
About this same time, she started asking me to put on “Jesus music” every time we got by Ann Lund in the car … a request I was certainly happy to grant her. Each time I put a worship CD on, my precious little girl lifted her hands high in the air and sang as loudly as she could to Jesus. We had never told her wer of Babel is 11—12 (The To that she needed to do this, and Scripture: Genes shipping) I’m honestly not sure how often and Abraham Wor orship Him she had seen people raise their Created Us to W Main Point: God ur family to hands in worship. Yet something ned to allow yo resource is desig is Th ur yo children in her little heart instinctively d’s Word before have time in Go for parents to is n wanted to worship God. She use God’s pla ca Be . ch ur ch attend their children’s knew who God was; she knew iritual nurturers of sp y ar im pr e th be spiritually, your that as you grow He loved her and had saved her faith, we know spiritually as well. … and the response that made children will grow
Getting Started
Equip (for parents) REM People are wired with a natural desire to EMB “Be worship, but what or who we worship is what kind ER v ers and to o defines us. In Genesis 11, we read about E ne a com how people sought to build “a tower that noth pas each sio e reach[ed] to the heavens, so that [they God other, ju r, forgiv nate could] make a name for [them]selves ing st a Eph forga and not be scattered over the face of s esia v i n e yo Chr ns 4 the whole earth” (11:4). A building “with u.” :32 ist its head in the heavens” refers to a ziggurat. A ziggurat was a structure similar in shape to a pyramid, but completely different in function. Ziggurats were built in hopes that the gods would descend from a staircase or ramp to earth and bless the people. Ancient ziggurats were dedicated to particular deities—especially the patron god or goddess of each city. Genesis 11:5 reads, “The Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building.” Ironically, this is just what these ancient builders were hoping—that a deity would come down to them. However, they were probably not expecting the one true God to show up (angry with their efforts) and confuse their languages and scatter them all over the earth. So it makes sense that God would call Abraham to leave his city and his family (and their false gods). God would want Abraham to cut his connections to the gods he may have worshipped his whole life. God would fill this void with Himself. By promising Abraham to make him a great nation and bless him, God singled him and his family out so that He might have a people for Himself.
Support
(for parents & kids) Sometime this week, read through the biblical account of God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:1–8. At the end of the passage, think of a question that reflects on what you just read, such as, “What did God tell Abraham to do?,” or “What promises did God make to Abraham?” After you have read this passage, explain to your children God wanted Abraham and his family to worship God and God alone. He is the one true God, and He wanted the worship of His people. Spend a few moments worshipping God together as a family. Some ways to worship together might be putting on a worship CD and singing along. Then read Psalm 103:1–11 together, and spend time praying and thanking God for who He is. Invite family members to call out different names of God they know, or anything else they can think of. God simply wants to be worshipped … however we do it! When you are finished, share with your children that what they just heard is a part of The Big God Story in the Bible, and they will hear more in church. Close your time by praying and expressing to God your desire to love and worship Him.
© 2011 David C. Cook. TruResources are developed in partnership with ROCKHARBOR Church and a national network of family and children’s ministry leaders. All right reserved.