The Perfect Sunday School Lesson

Several years ago, I taught a junior age Sunday school class each Sunday.  I loved being very creative each Sunday morning.  We did not use a set curriculum for Sunday school, and I was glad! It allowed me to go whatever direction I thought necessary… and occasionally I even asked the Lord what He wanted me to teach that morning. (Sorry, just being honest!)

One Sunday morning, I was totally excited about the lesson.  My creative juices were at their peak!  I had a life-sized poster of Goliath that I had drawn.  The plan was perfect!  The children and I were going to reenact David and Goliath.  Oh, the fun they would have tossing their pretend stones at the monstrous poster as they simultaneously learned about being brave, standing up for right, trusting God for victory in battle, etc.

Unfortunately, this was one of those lessons where I just could not get peace in my heart to teach it.  That morning before class, I argued with the Lord.

“But Lord, this is a great lesson… I have visuals! I am using all the learning styles!”

But, no.  The Lord would not leave me alone.  Instead, I could not get the simple “Roman’s Road” out of my mind and heart.  Five minutes before class started, my lesson changed.

In my mind, the lesson was boring.  There were no visuals, but I just taught truth… the Gospel, plain and simple.  In my heart, I was still grieving the rejection of my “awesome lesson.”  I grieved its loss until a newly attending nine-yea- old girl (second or third time attending) raised her hand and said, “Mrs. Charity, I have never heard this before, and I am not saved.”

I must tell you, I have always been the queen of brainstorming and creativity.  I can come up with a million great ideas… and neglect seeking for God to put something INTO my heart.

Nehemiah 2:12a  “And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do…”

Nehemiah did not sit around and brainstorm good ideas of what would be really helpful for his people.  He followed what God put in his heart to do.

How easy it is to try to do things in the flesh of creativity and skill and talent… and forget to get alone with God and ask Him to direct our steps!

I am thankful I listened to His voice that morning.  I would have missed a great opportunity.  Do I still struggle with this sometimes? Absolutely!  As we speak, I am about to hit the delete button on a blog post I was going to publish…

John 15:5  “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”

To be fruit bearers, we have to abide in Him and quit relying on our flesh.  (I sure want to bring forth MUCH fruit.)