Children’s Sermon

Mark 8:27-38

What You Choose to Do

By Lois Parker Edstrom

Most kids really like ice cream. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could eat ice cream all the time – breakfast, lunch and dinner? Why wouldn’t that work?

Yes, because we wouldn’t have room to eat other healthy foods that our bodies need to grow strong. We can’t always have what we want.

We can’t always do what we want to do as well. You may wish to play with your friends rather than help with the dishes, make your bed, or take out the garbage. We do some tasks, we would rather not do, to be helpful to others.

We also need to give up certain things to be able to learn something new. (May involve the kids here by asking what new skill they would be interested in.) You don’t become a good soccer player, dancer, speller, runner, or singer without giving up some of your time to practice those skills.

We can say the same thing of being a Christian. Jesus tells us in the Bible that, “Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (8:34).

Jesus uses the word: deny. When used this way it means that he asks us to give up something to follow him. His words remind us that to be a Christian we need to be willing to learn about His life, take time to pray, and practice making good choices.

To have the very best life think about what you need to do to grow healthy and strong, how you can be helpful to others and learn to be a loving Christian.

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible

Copyright 2009, Richard Niell Donovan