This is lesson 3 of 3 in the Sabotage kids sermonlink series. See also the adult edition of this lesson.
Hey kids! Have you ever heard of a little thing called pride? Pride is all about loving the things you or others do. But it’s important to know pride can be a good thing or a bad thing. So here’s what you need to know:
There are two types of pride
The first type of pride is the good kind. This is when you take pride in things like your good grades or a cool piece of art you made. This kind of pride motivates you to work hard. But there is another kind of pride that is not good for us. Let’s look at a verse to see what the second kind of pride is about:
Proverbs 16:18 (NIV) Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
Haughty, not naughty. That’s just a fancy word that means you think you’re better than everyone else. You are stuck up and look down on others. People with this kind of pride aren’t very fun to be around. What happens when you have the second type of pride? To answer that question we’re going to look at a guy from the Bible named Saul.
Saul started out humble
Saul was just a normal guy living his life in Israel when suddenly everything changed.
1 Samuel 13:1 Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned for forty-two years.
Did you catch that? Saul became the very first king of Israel! Now that is pretty cool. Wanna know how Saul became king? He was chosen as king because he was the tallest and most handsome man in all of Israel. He hadn’t done anything super special. He just looked good. And, because God allowed him to be king.
At first he knew he was just super lucky to be picked as king. He understood that he was just a nobody and that God was generous to give him the opportunity. But, over time, it all started to go to his head.
Saul ended up thinking he was better than others
Know what that’s called? Pride. Remember the bad kind of pride that makes you think that you are the most important thing in the world? Well, that’s the pride that took over Saul’s life. He ended up ignoring God and making choices that were not good for his family or the nation of Israel.
If you want to be almost great, be like Saul
Saul could have been a great person and king but his pride ruined him. He could have used his powerful position to make God proud but instead he just cared about himself.
Romans 12:16 Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.
So kids, pay attention to the kind of pride in your life. Don’t be like Saul who had the pride that made him think he was better than everyone else. Be humble and nice and remember that God gives us everything we have.
Questions:
- What was your favorite part of the video? What is one thing you learned from the video?
- Who is your favorite professional athlete? How does he/she act when she does something good? How do they act when they mess up? Why do you think they act that way?
- What are the two types of pride? How can pride be good? How can pride be bad?
- Who struggled with pride in the story today?
- Read Philippians 2:3. Why is selfishness and pride hurtful to others? How does being humble help us with our friends?
- How will you apply this lesson to your life this week?
Bonus Questions: Use these passages to have more conversations this week.
- Read Proverbs 27:2. Why is it better for others to compliment you than you bragging about yourself?
- Read James 4:6. Why is God disappointed in prideful people? How does he want us to be instead?
- Read 1 Corinthians 13:4. Why is it hard to love others when we think we’re better than others?
Ministry Tools:
[How to: Use pursueGOD.org in your life]
[Download: K-1st Teacher’s Pack (PDF)]
[Download: 2nd-5th Teacher’s Pack (PDF)]
[Download: Large Group Script (PDF)]
