Tag: humility

The Last Day

by Free Children's Stories, posted in 8-11 years/8-11 años, English, Teens / Adolescentes
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The Last Day

Jesus was aware that His time on earth was coming to a close. His mission on earth was nearly complete and He knew that He would soon be betrayed and executed. So how did He live during His last 24 hours?

He was humble. He set aside time with His disciples where He shared a meal with them. First, though, He welcomed each of them by washing their feet. Foot washing was a job generally given to the lowest servant. People walked around in sandals on dusty, muddy roads, so most feet were pretty grungy. But Jesus showed His disciples great love and humility by stooping to wash their feet. He made Himself a servant (John 13:5).

He was yielded and obedient. He faced the prospect of torture and death. It was so difficult and He prayed so desperately that He was sweating drops of blood. But He trusted that His Father knew best, and said, ”Not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:41–44).

He was unconditionally loving. He was betrayed, but He didn’t retaliate. He was mistreated, yet He didn’t lose His temper. Those closest to Him turned their backs on Him, but He didn’t react in anger. He was wrongfully accused and humiliated, but He held His tongue (Luke 22:45–71).

He was honest. When He was brought before His judges—first the Sanhedrin and then Pilate—they asked Him straight out, “Are you the Son of God?” He could have saved Himself a lot of pain and anguish by simply skirting the truth. But He upheld the truth, no matter what the cost (Luke 22:66–71; Luke 23:1–3).

He was forgiving. After being whipped, mocked, spit on, and dragged through the streets to hang on a cross, He said, “Father, forgive them.” He could have called down fire and lightning on His tormentors and cursed them for hurting the Son of God. But instead, He forgave them even as they mocked and insulted Him (Luke 23:34).

He was unselfish. Despite the agony of hanging on the cross, He took time to make sure His mother would be cared for. He took time to listen to the thief dying beside Him, and to reassure him as he died. Instead of thinking about Himself and the pain He was in, He thought of others and their well-being (Luke 23:39–43; John 19:25–27).

The way Jesus spent His last day was no different from the way He lived His whole life. That day, like every day, He found opportunities to love, to give, to forgive, and to share His Father’s love with others.

Adapted from Activated Magazine.

Christian Principles for Kids: Discipleship – Principios Cristianos Para Niños: Discipulado

by Free Children's Stories, posted in 5-7 years/5-7 años, Basic Christian Principles / Principios Básicos de Fe, Bilingual English/Español
Christian Principles for Kids – discipleship – Principios cristianos para niños – discipuladoDownload

Christian Principles for Kids: Discipleship

A disciple is defined as a “follower of Jesus,” “a learner,” “one who follows in the master’s footsteps,” “someone who is aiming to be like Jesus.” Disciples seek to learn, study, and then follow and apply what their teacher tells them.

We are students of Jesus—our Master. We seek to not only learn about His life on earth, the truths of God’s Word, and His nature and character, but we seek to follow His example and to live as He taught us to live, to love as He loved, and to live a life of faith.

What should we strive to be like? The following Bible passage provides some insight:

“The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23).

The Sermon on the Mount also serves as a guide, as Jesus highlights as blessed those who are merciful, meek, and peacemakers, and those who hunger and thirst after righteousness (Matthew 5:3–9).

Discipleship is a spiritual journey, a faith journey. It involves daily choices and actions to operate under the influence of the Holy Spirit and God’s love, to obey Him to the best of our ability, to testify of His love through our words and actions.

Principios cristianos para niños: Discipulado

Un discípulo es un seguidor de Jesús, un aprendiz, uno que sigue las pisadas de su maestro, uno que aspira a ser como Jesús. Un discípulo desea estudiar, aprender y a continuación seguir y aplicar lo que su profesor le enseña.

Nosotros somos pupilos de Jesús; Él es nuestro Maestro. No solo ansiamos conocer cómo fue Su vida en la Tierra, cuáles son las verdades contenidas en la Palabra de Dios y cuál es Su naturaleza y forma de ser, sino que también anhelamos seguir Su ejemplo y conducirnos como Él nos ha enseñado, amar como Él amó y vivir conforme a la fe.

¿Cómo debemos aspirar a ser? Los siguientes pasajes de la Biblia nos dan algunas luces:

«Este es el fruto que el Espíritu produce en nosotros: amor, gozo, paz, paciencia, benignidad, bondad, fidelidad, humildad y dominio propio» (Gálatas 5:22,23)

El Sermón de la Montaña también nos sirve de guía. En él Jesús resalta que bienaventurados son los misericordiosos, los mansos y los pacificadores, amén de los que tienen hambre y sed de justicia. (Mateo 5:3-9)

Ser discípulo se trata de una travesía espiritual, un viaje de fe. Requiere decisiones y acciones cotidianas con el fin de obrar bajo la influencia del Espíritu Santo y del amor de Dios, obedecerlo lo mejor posible, y dar testimonio de Su amor mediante nuestras palabras y acciones.

Great Adventures, Part 2

by Free Children's Stories, posted in 1-4 years/1-4 años, 5-7 years/5-7 años, 8-11 years/8-11 años, Bible Stories/Historias de la Biblia, English

Bible stories and songs from the Old and New Testaments for kids.

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12 Foundation Stones: Class 12A – Going God’s Way: What are the Standards?

by Free Children's Stories, posted in 8-11 years/8-11 años, English, Foundation Stones Bible Classes / Piedras Fundamentales Clases de la Biblia, Teens / Adolescentes

Aim: To raise the students’ awareness of the differences between God’s ways to the world’s. To teach the students how to evaluate their habits, modes of recreation, and way of living according to God’s standards. 

If you are giving class tests as part of the 12 Foundation Stones course, then each test should be given following the relevant class. Students should be allowed to use their Bible to help them complete the test.

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test-for-12-foundation-stones-class-12a-going-gods-way-what-are-the-standards-Download

The Greatest in the Kingdom – El más importante en el reino

by Free Children's Stories, posted in 1-4 years/1-4 años, 5-7 years/5-7 años, Bible Stories/Historias de la Biblia, Bilingual English/Español

Bible story for little children, with text in English and Spanish. Click here to download the free .pdf / Historia bíblica para niños, con texto en inglés y español. Haz clic aquí para descargar el .pdf gratis.

The Parables of Jesus for Children: Coloring Book

by Free Children's Stories, posted in 1-4 years/1-4 años, 5-7 years/5-7 años, Coloring pages / Paginas para pintar, English

Click here to read/download this children’s book in color. 

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The Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican

by Free Children's Stories, posted in 5-7 years/5-7 años, 8-11 years/8-11 años, Bible Stories/Historias de la Biblia, English, Uncategorized

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Jesus often taught in parables. One of the shortest yet most profound was the parable of the Pharisee and the publican. The Bible tells us that “There were some people who thought they were very good and looked down on everyone else. Jesus used this story to teach them” (Luke 18:9).

The word “Pharisee” means “the separated ones,” which sums up the basic nature of their beliefs. They were strict legalists who pledged to observe and obey every one of the countless restrictive rules, traditions, and ceremonial laws of Orthodox Judaism. They considered themselves to be the only true followers of God’s Law, and therefore felt that they were much better and holier than anyone else. Thus they separated themselves not only from the non-Jews—whom they absolutely despised and considered “dogs”—but even other Jews.

The publicans were tax collectors for the foreign occupier and ruler of Palestine, Imperial Rome. The Romans would instruct the publicans how much to collect from the people, and then the publicans could charge extra for their own income. So publicans were usually extortioners and were therefore considered traitors and absolutely despised by other Jews.

So when Jesus told this parable, comparing a Pharisee and a publican, He had chosen the two most opposite figures in the Jewish community. The one was considered the best, most righteous, most religious, most godly of men, whereas the other was considered the worst scoundrel imaginable.

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The parable:

One time there was a Pharisee and a tax collector. One day they both went to the Temple to pray. The Pharisee stood alone, away from the tax collector. When the Pharisee prayed, he said, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not as bad as other people. I am not like men who steal and cheat. I thank you that I am better than this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I give a tenth of everything I get!’

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“The tax collector stood alone too. But when he prayed, he would not even look up to heaven. He felt very humble before God. He said, ‘O God, have mercy on me. I am a sinner!’ I tell you, when this man finished his prayer and went home, he was right with God. But the Pharisee, who felt that he was better than others, was not right with God. People who make themselves important will be made humble. But those who make themselves humble will be made important.” (Luke 18:10-14)

Text © TFI. Art by Didier Martin.

My Mistake

by Free Children's Stories, posted in 8-11 years/8-11 años, English, Teens / Adolescentes

mistake 1

Elsa Sichrovsky

I generally consider myself a forgiving and “nice” person, but I had an experience in my sophomore year that tested my ability to forgive. My classmate Matt and I were paired up to do a presentation about modern English literature, and Matt got on my nerves from the start.

My nitpicky and demanding work habits conflicted with Matt’s spontaneous approach to the project. He was frequently late for scheduled discussions, and he continually neglected details I felt were important. To top things off, he was also often late in completing his parts of our project, despite my increasingly frantic text message reminders.

Only three days before the presentation, I realized Matt hadn’t completed the final portion he was responsible for, and I was unable to reach him. Matt finally uploaded a hastily contrived conclusion only hours before the deadline, apologizing and explaining that he had been preoccupied with another assignment.

As I expected, our presentation failed to satisfy the professor, and while he enumerated our team’s many failings, I was burning with resentment toward Matt. But he didn’t seem too disturbed, and I heard from a friend that he felt he’d done his part well. Since there was no satisfaction in snubbing a person who didn’t think he’d done anything wrong, I remained outwardly polite and congratulated myself for being so magnanimous to one so undeserving.

Two months later, in another class, I was paired up with Celine to do a presentation about Japanese grammar. I believed I’d done my best to prepare, but it became apparent during our team’s QandA that I’d completely misunderstood some of the concepts we were presenting, and our team again got a bad score. I expected Celine to be upset, since it had clearly been my fault, but instead, she consoled me and helped me make the needed adjustments to the final version. Celine’s ready forgiveness provoked some soul-searching, as her response to my failure contrasted with my resentment toward Matt.

mistake 2As I thought back over the last few weeks, I realized that I hadn’t really forgiven Matt and had been unable to restrain myself from making some snide remarks about him to my friends. While Matt had been late and perhaps even uninterested, it was painfully clear that I too could be a careless student who caused a team to fail. I’d thought of myself as tolerant and merciful, but my response to Matt showed otherwise. Though I hadn’t deserved mercy, Celine had given it to me freely and without condescension. I prayed that through this experience I could gain some of the loving, humble generosity of spirit that comes from knowing that we are all fallible humans who need the forgiveness of those around us.

Art © TFI. Text courtesy of Activated magazine; used by permission.