Beatitudes Sunday School Lesson for Kids –
Blessed are the Merciful
Use this
children’s Sunday School lesson the fifth Beatitude to teach kids to be
forgiving.
Needed: Bibles, writing
and drawing paper, crayons or colored pencils
Intro Game: To Forgive or Not to Forgive
Print out or write the words Forgive or Don’t Forgive on a set of index cards. You should have an equal number of cards that say Forgive as Don’t Forgive.
Divide students into two teams, and have the
teams line up on separate sides of the room in single file lines. Mix up the
cards and give each student a card that says Forgive or Don’t Forgive. Set a
timer for 3-5 minutes, depending on how many students you have. When you say “Go!”
the first student on each team runs toward each and show each other their
cards.
If one says Forgive and the other says Don’t
Forgive, the student with Forgive scores a point for their team. The person
with Don’t Forgive does not score. If both say Forgive, both score a point and
if both say Don’t Forgive, neither does. Both return to the back of their lines
and trade their cards for a new card.
As soon as they leave the center, the second
two players run up and do the same thing. Play continues until the timer runs
out. The team with the most points at the end wins.
Ask, How do you think people decide if they are going to forgive
someone or not?
Lesson
Tell students, Imagine this: You’re outside playing, and one of your friends hits you and calls you a name. What would you do? Would you hit them back? Would you go tell on them?
(As the leader, tell a story from your own life about a time when
someone was merciful to you or when you were merciful to someone else. Example:
A 16-year-old girl side-swiped my car
while it was parked outside on the curb and broke my driver’s side mirror off.
She came to the door to apologize. What should I have done to her for hitting
my car? I could have made her pay to get my car fixed. Or I could have called
the police and asked the police to give
her a ticket. But instead, I told her it was okay and let her go. I had mercy
on her and forgave her.)
(Read Matthew 5:7.)
What does that word “mercy” mean?
It means you don’t punish someone or get them in trouble when they do
something wrong. You forgive them.
God could punish us for the wrong things we do, couldn’t He? We all do
wrong things sometimes. But God doesn’t want to punish us. He wants to have
mercy on us and forgive us. That’s why He sent Jesus to die on the cross for us
so that we could be forgiven for all our sins. If you believe in Jesus, God
forgives you for all your wrong things.
So, now that God has forgiven us,
do you think He wants us to forgive other people? (Yes.)
God wants us to forgive everyone. If they hurt us very badly, we don’t
have to go around them anymore, but we can still forgive them. We don’t have to
stay angry at them. God wants us to let go of our anger and our hurt feelings
and forgive that person.
Who can you forgive? When someone is mean to you or calls you a name,
can you have mercy on them and forgive them? (Yes.)
When someone hits you, can you forgive them? (Yes.)
When someone doesn’t want to play with you, can you forgive them?
(Yes.)
Jesus wants us to forgive everyone and to remember that God has
forgiven each of us.
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