Full or Less?

Preparation:

Write "Hope", "Heart", "Help", "Less" and "Full" on cardboard squares, and store them in the heart shaped box. Add a few drops of red food colouring to the jug of water to give it a good red colour. Drill a 3 mm hole in the side of the base of one glass and place both on the glass dish. This will catch the water that will leak from the one glass.

The Effect:

The cardboard squares are held up in pairs to make the words, "Hope-less", Hope-full", "Heart-less", "Heart-full", "Help-less" and "Help-full". These words are displayed at the right moment during the lesson. Coloured water is poured into glasses, but the one with the hole leaks out into the dish. This shows we must always be "FULL" of Jesus' love.

Age Group:

Grades 4 - 8 (10 to 15 years).

Theme:

Are you "Less" or Full". I don't want to be Hopeless, Heartless and Helpless. An additional simple illusion teaches children that our hearts need to be always "FULL" of "Hopefullness", "Heartfullness" and "Helpfullness".

Lesson:

Have you ever noticed that along the banks of rivers the vegetation is always more green? It's the same in our loves as the Holy Spirit flows freely into our lives, our character grows and we become filled with more love, joy and peace. In our relationships with other people we show the fruit of the Spirit of love, kindness and goodness, and this tells them that we are God's children. Galatians 5:22-25 says:

"God's Spirit makes us loving, happy, peaceful,
patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self-controlled.
And because we belong to Christ Jesus,
we have killed our selfish feelings and desires.
God's Spirit has given us life, and so we should obey the Spirit."

I have here a heart-shaped box with some words in it. Let's pretend that it's your heart. What is you heart full of? I hope it is full of God's love. ( Take the words out of the heart box ). We speak about a heart being "Full" or "Empty". Instead of "Empty", I'm going to use the word "Less".

Hope-Full:

The first word we find in our heart is "Hope-Full" ( Display the cards "Hope" and "Full" ). To be hopeful means that you desire and expect to succeed at what you are doing. If our hearts are full of Jesus' love, then we become "Hopeful" as we trust Him to make us into one of God's children so that we will live forever in Heaven.

If our hearts are empty of love then we are "Hope-Less" ( Display the cards "Hope" and "Less" ) and have no assurance that we will go to Heaven when we die. To be hopeless is to feel unable to achieve what you have set out to do. If you were running a race, you would be last and give up any chance of winning. So you might as well stop and lie down and cry!

Heart-Full:

When our hearts are full of Jesus' love, we will care for other people. We are then "Heart-Full" ( Display the cards "Heart" and "Full" ). It means that you have a heart that is full of love and compassion for everybody.

If we hate other people and refuse to care for them, then we become "Heart-Less" ( Display the cards "Heart" and "Less" ). If you are heartless, this means that you are unfeeling, have no pity and are unkind and cruel.

Help-Full:

When we love others then our desire increases to be "Help-Full" ( Display the cards "Help" and "Full" ) and we will go out of our way to help and care for others. To be helpful means that we become unselfish, useful, and willingly to help others and share with them.

But, if we are selfish and only think about ourselves and what we want, then we become "Help-less" ( Display the cards "Help" and "Less" ). To be helpless means that we are unable to act or do something without the help of someone else. It means that we have no love for other people and cannot help or care for them.

Hope-Less:

The end of being "Less" is that our love will die and we will become totally "Heart-Less". This will make us so self-centred that we will become "Help-less". Finally, we will lose our faith and hope in God and become "Hope-Less" ( Display the cards "Hope" and "Less" ).

I don't want to be "Less" as I want to be "Full" in every area. I want to be "Hope-Full", "Heart-Full" and "Help-Full"! ( Display the relevant cards ).

Keeping "FULL":

But the love, kindness and goodness of Jesus must reign in our hearts. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:13:

"And now these three remain - faith, hope and love.
But the greatest of these is love."

It was God's love that drew us to Jesus and made us realise that we needed Him as our Best Friend, Saviour and Lord. I have two glasses and a jug of coloured water. I am going to fill both glasses with water ( Fill both glasses ). This one was easy to fill and is full of water. That is just what Jesus wants to do for us when He fills our lives with His love, we become "Full".

What about this second glass? I cannot seem to be able to fill it. Oh dear, it's leaking out! Ha! I see problem with this glass is that it has a hole in it and will never hold water. That's just like a heart that is cold and empty and has no love in it. It is "Hope-Less", "Heart-Less" and "Help-Less".

Make sure that you don't have a heart like that!

God bless.