BIBLE LESSON FOR KIDS ON TEMPTATION
Here is a free Bible lesson for kids in K-5th grade on Temptation, based on Matthew 26:41 and 1 Corinthians 10:13.
It includes a fun game to help drive home the point.
-Nick Diliberto, Ministry to Youth
Looking for kid’s ministry curriculum?
ONE YEAR CHILDREN’S MINISTRY CURRICULUM, VOL 1 – Save 72% on one year of children’s ministry curriculum for 1st-5th grade helping kids fall in love with Jesus and discover what it means to follow him!
KID’S MINISTRY LESSON ON TEMPTATION
Bible: Matthew 26:41, 1 Corinthians 10:13
Bottom Line: The best way to avoid falling into temptation is to watch and pray. God wants us to resist temptation, so He will always provide a way out.
SUPPLIES
- Several nice small prizes (candy bars, pens, and pencils)
- Several lesser “prizes” (empty soda bottles, broken toys, etc.)
- Enough bookmarks for every student
- Brown paper bags
- Gift bags with tissue paper
- A table
GAME PREP
Before class, put the nice small prizes into paper bags and the lesser prizes into the gift bags.
Make sure there are not as many gift bag gifts as there are students, so you can guarantee some of the students will choose the paper bags.
Put the gifts on the table, making sure to mix the nicely wrapped ones with the brown paper bags, so no gifts are more prominent on the table than others.
When students arrive, hand each of them a bookmark.
GAME PLAY
Say: Today is all about choices.
I’ve given each of you a small gift.
You can keep your bookmark, or you can exchange it for one of the other gifts.
Your choices are on these tables.
You can do whatever you want, but once the decision is made, it is made.
There’s no changing your mind once you see what is inside.
When I call your name, please tell me your decision.
If you decide to trade the bookmark, you can shake the gifts on the tables.
You can try to guess what might be inside, but don’t open your gift until everyone has made a choice.
We’ll do that together.
Let’s get started.
TEACH
Say: Some of you traded up.
You got something cooler when you traded in those bookmarks.
You look happy with your trade.
Some of you didn’t fare quite as well.
You were tempted by the pretty wrapping, right?
You thought since it looked good on the outside, it would have something nice on the inside.
It didn’t work out that way, did it?
I understand your thought process.
We all get deceived by appearances sometimes.
This time around, it just cost you a bookmark.
That’s not so bad.
But, we can’t let ourselves be deceived by appearances when it comes to living our lives.
Temptation is a real enemy to our faith.
If we aren’t careful, temptation can cause us to sin against God.
It isn’t hard to fall into sin.
Sinful things usually look great at first, just like our nicely wrapped packages.
We often think they can’t really be that bad when they seem like so much fun, but disobeying God is never fun in the long run.
There are always consequences.
Maybe those consequences are personal, like feeling guilty.
Maybe they are more serious, like messing up our testimony.
Either way, we need to do our best to avoid sin.
That means resisting temptation.
Jesus gave a warning in Matthew 26.
Read Matthew 26:41.
Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Jesus knew we would desire to follow after Him and not sin, but He also understood that our flesh would be weak.
It isn’t natural to say no to something you want.
That’s why He said we need to watch and pray.
If we watch and pray, we will be able to recognize temptation immediately.
We won’t dwell on how much fun it might be, because we will already know it is bad.
Sin doesn’t start with an action.
It starts in the heart.
We see something, and it looks good.
That’s temptation.
We start thinking about how fun it might be, and before long, we do it.
By keeping our spiritual eyes open through close communication with God, watching, and praying, we skip the fantasy and never get to the point where we commit the sin.
Sounds pretty good, right?
No guilty feelings!
No broken testimony!
Jesus gave us some very good advice.
We need to take it.
I understand it isn’t always easy to resist temptation.
God understands, too.
That’s why He promises always to give us a way out.
We are going to read one more verse.
Read 1 Corinthians 10:13.
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
God doesn’t want us to fail.
He understands that it isn’t easy to resist temptation, so He gives us a promise.
If we are seeking Him, He will show us a way out of the temptation.
We just have to be willing to take it.
End Lesson
Looking for kid’s ministry curriculum?
ONE YEAR CHILDREN’S MINISTRY CURRICULUM, VOL 1 – Save 72% on one year of children’s ministry curriculum for 1st-5th grade helping kids fall in love with Jesus and discover what it means to follow him!