Actions Speak Louder Than Words
Children’s Message on Demonstrating God’s Love
Main Objective: It’s important for children to be loved, and they can usually tell when someone cares for them. As adults, it’s essential that we not only communicate our care but also help kids understand how much God loves them. This message emphasizes how we see God’s love demonstrated and how we can pass along His love by showing kindness to other people. There are many ways we can show our love for others, of course. When we do so, we give evidence of our love for God.
Law/Gospel Theme: Jesus is the image of God, and the evidence of His love for us. Christ gave His life for us. We can rejoice in the sacrifice He made on our behalf, and out of gratitude we should seek to serve others. As Christians, we should aim to love one another, even if it sometimes requires sacrifice on our part. When we give of ourselves to other people, it lives out the love of God.
Optional Materials: Items that might demonstrate love (cards, flowers, gifts, hearts, etc.); Bibles
Bible Passage: 1 John 3:16-24
Message: As with most messages, the details of how you choose to communicate this are adaptable and should cater to timing as well as to your audience and student needs. Use your judgment and ideas to best serve students.
Greet the children, and discuss ways to show love…
Hello, children of God!
How do we show that we love God? It’s important to love the Lord, but how do we demonstrate that to other people? Of course, we can do things like going to church and reading the Bible. We can pray and tell others about God. But the Bible tells us of another, and very important way that we can show how much we love God. We can show we love Him by loving other people. When we demonstrate care for those God loves and created, we show love for Him, too.
So how do we show love for other people? If we just say “I love you”, does that do the trick? There’s nothing wrong with telling people of our love, but there’s a lot more to it than that. We need to live it out. You’ve probably heard the phrase “actions speak louder than words.” We want to do more than just tell people how we feel; we should show them, as well. There are a lot of methods that we can use to demonstrate love in action. As appropriate, have objects on hand to hold up as visual aids while describing. You might see people show love for others by writing special cards or notes. Maybe you give someone gifts or flowers to say “I love you,” or special treats. Or perhaps you do special things for someone else. A lot of people say that love is spelled “T-I-M-E.” Spending time with people shows that we care about them. Just being with someone else can be a sign of love. When we do things for and with other people, it allows them to understand not only how we love them, but how God loves them.
In the book of 1 John (not to be confused with the Gospel of John, which is also great), we are told that we should love not just with words but “with actions and in truth.” The passage also explains that we exhibit the love of God in us, and His spirit in us, when we keep His commandments. We keep His commandments when we love one another. We know that Jesus loves us because He was willing to die for us. He laid down His life for us. “We ought to lay down our lives” as well. Now, hopefully we don’t have to actually die for someone else, but we can still live sacrificially. This means putting the needs and desires of other people ahead of our own. Perhaps we have choices in life between doing things that are comfortable for us and doing things that help and serve others. “Laying down our lives” means choosing the things that will benefit other people.
Loving others isn’t always easy. We might not always feel the happy sappy emotions that we think come with love. But we also remember how God loved us first. He is the best example of love. Out of gratitude for that and recognition for all He does in our lives, how can we not love Him and love those He places in our lives? We show others His love by passing it on. So let’s try to do that. Find ways that you can show care for other people. Live in a way that reflects the love of God, and bless others through it!
Why don’t we say a prayer and thank God for His love now?
Prayer:
(Have kids repeat each line)
Dear God,
Thank you for giving us Jesus.
Help us to pass on your love to others
And to be willing to serve them.
Thank you for your love
We love you, God!
In Jesus’s name, Amen!
Bible Verses/story to Reference:
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us. –1 John 3:16-24