Here is an introduction and a quick taste of the first lesson in our newest Ten Commandment Lesson Series which you can read about in my previous post here.
You can find the complete set of these lessons to download in our Free Shop, under Lessons, Study Guides, and Worksheets.
Each lesson package offers a completely, written-out, word-for-word lesson plan with a memory verse, review questions, and space to write your own notes.
And, today, we are talking about Lesson 1 which begins with the first commandment that we find in the list that God gave Moses on Mt. Sinai: Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me.
At first glance, this may seem like a difficult lesson to teach to modern kids living in the 21st century who may have never considered the possibility of other gods or are unfamiliar with the concept of idols or are too young to have explored other religions yet. But, as we delve deeper into the concept of having no other gods before the One True God, we can easily find the practical application for us today!
As you read through the lesson plan, you will notice that you can rephrase this commandment in a new way that will shed light on the practical application for young kiddos living today: we should not have other gods besides God, meaning we serve the One, True God ONLY, above and before anything else.
Once you establish this as the definition, you can begin to ask children leading questions which will help the realize how they may be putting other things before God: what is the first thing they think about? Who is the person they love the most? What do they like doing the most? Here is where you drive home the practical message of this first commandment: GOD SHOULD BE THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE IN OUR LIVES.
When you can tell that the kiddos you’re teaching understand this concept, you can then begin to introduce how the devil likes to put distractions in our lives to keep us from prioritizing God and the Bible in our daily walk. Don’t be afraid to use visual aids to illustrate this point: bring in things like a phone, a favorite toy, money, posters, etc. that may catch children’s attention and help them to realize what they may be treating as more important than God in their little lives.
And, as always, keep them involved by asking questions: What do you think distracts you from God? What can you do to fix that? What are some ways you will try to put God first? Does God deserve to be first? Why? (Make sure you have some answers to these questions written down for easy referral since kids may not have answers right away.)
You can then use the memory verse, Matthew 4:10b, to reinforce the fact that we, as Christians, should all be serving and prioritizing God above any person, place, thing, or idea! (What an important lesson for us all to keep in mind!)
Once you have gone over the memory verse, and maybe played a review game with our handy-dandy questions already provided for you in the lesson, you can add the first commandment to our Ten Fingers for Ten Commandments Craft which children can work on completing after each one of the ten lessons in the series!
I hope this overview and lesson is a help to you and your class — whether you are in Sunday school, children’s ministry, or a homeschooler!
Find all of the materials for this lesson and the others in the link below:
Also, explore our free shop for lots of other great kid and teacher-friendly materials!
Thanks so much for reading through this article. Leave a comment below if you like this lesson concept, and let me know what other lessons/lesson series you would like to see in the future! Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter, too, in order to be the first to see all the new and exciting content we publish weekly!! God bless!
