As you look in the mirror, what do you see? (The teacher can bring a mirror to class.) Do you see a girl (female)? ______ Do you see a boy (male)? ______
What else do you see? Do you see hair? Skin? Eyes? A nose? Ears? A mouth? What else?
Where did these things come from? Where did your eyes come from? Your ears? Your nose? Your skin?
What are these things for? (The first one is done for you.)
Your eyes are for seeing.
Your ears are for ___________________________
Your nose is for ____________________________
Your tongue is for___________________________
Your mouth is for ___________________________
Your teeth are for___________________________
Every part of the body is for a purpose and has a function.
Are people’s eyes different? Do they come in different colors? Are people’s noses different? Do they come in different sizes and shapes? Is every face different? Is your face different from every other face? Do people have different kinds of hair? Does hair come in different colors? Do some people have curly hair and other people have straight hair? Is everyone’s height the same? Is everyone’s weight the same?
Everyone is different and nobody is the same! What would happen if we all looked exactly the same? As you would walk down the street, everyone would look exactly like everyone else! Can you think of any problems that would cause?
What if all of the cans in the grocery store looked the same. What problems would this cause? How would you know what to buy? Every can needs to have its own name (peas, corn, beans, tuna fish, etc.) and every can needs to have its own label so that we know what is on the inside. Is the Lord Jesus Christ living in your heart? If He is, then you need to put a label on yourself just as the label is on the can. In this way others will know that Jesus is in you: "That if thou shalt ______________ with thy mouth the Lord J___________" (Romans 10:9). If Jesus is really your Lord, then other people should know about this. What would happen if all the believers stopped confessing? That would be like all of the cans in the grocery store taking off their labels! We would say to the cans, "We do not know what is in you!" People could say to believers, "We do not know who is in you!"
The same God who has made every snowflake different is the same God who has made every person different. No two people are alike. Some people might look alike (such as identical twins), but every person is different from every other person. Have you ever noticed differences between two people who are identical twins?
Every person is very unique and special. When you were born there may have been five or ten other babies who were born in the same hospital at about the same time you were. As your parents were about to leave the hospital, do you think they said something like this: "Nurse, all of these babies look about the same. Just give us one of them. Any one will do!" No, there is only one baby that these parents want! That baby is very special to them and the other babies are very special to their parents.
God has created each one of us differently, and we are very special to Him! If you were to see a flock of sheep, they might all look alike to you. But to the shepherd each sheep is different. He knows his sheep very well and he is able to tell them apart. When we become a believer, we do not become lost in a crowd. Every believer is special to God. God is the Good Shepherd who knows each of His sheep by name: "He calleth His own sheep by _______________" (John 10:3).
I’m special
to Jesus,
There’s no one else like me.
I wouldn’t trade places with anyone else,
I’m special, you see.
God has prepared a task
He wants me to do.
I’m special. I’m special to my Lord.
(by Ron Hamilton)
Do people all wear the same clothes? Do people wear different clothes with different colors and different styles? Is there anyone else in your Sunday School class who is wearing exactly the same clothes that you are? Do boys dress differently than girls (see Deuteronomy 22:5)? Do boys wear their hair differently than girls (see 1 Corinthians 11:14-15)? Today there are some boys who look and dress like girls and there are some girls who look and dress like boys (and the same is true for men and women). Is this pleasing to God? How did God make us (circle the correct answer, but first read Genesis 1:27):
Let’s look, dress, and act the way God made us!
Can you think of any place where all the men wear the same clothes? Do policemen all wear the same clothes? Why? Do soldiers all wear the same clothes? Why? (We do not want to shoot our own men!) Do players on the same football team all wear the same clothes? Why? (We do not want to tackle the wrong man.)
Believers should all wear the same clothes also. We should all put on the garments of love, the garments of kindness, the garments of forgiveness, etc. (see Colossians 3:12-14). Should all believers wear the same kind of armour (Ephesians 6:11-17)? _____
Even though soldiers all dress alike and wear the same uniform, every soldier is a special individual and every soldier is given a special number (identification number). He is the only soldier that has this number. Football players have the same uniform, but do they each have a different number? Would it be confusing to the fans if two players on the same team each had the same number? ______________
Every person is different, but every person is an individual person.
There are many things that we share in common with other people. We each have a
heart. We each have a brain. We each have a soul. We all live on the same planet.
We all breathe air. Can you think of other things that we share in common with
all people? Every snowflake is different and no two are exactly alike. But can
you think of something that every snowflake shares in common with every other
snowflake?
As you look at yourself in the mirror you need to ask yourself, "What does this person know?"
There are many things that you know. You know your own name:
|
____________________ |
______________________ |
____________________ |
You know your age: You are _________ years old. You know where you live:
|
________________________ |
________________________ |
|
________________________ |
________________________ |
You know who lives in your house with you. You know what grade you are in (Grade ____). You know how to add: 5 + 4 = ____. You know how to subtract: 88 - 7 = ______. You know how to read because you have been reading these notes!
There are some things that we all know. For example, probably everyone in your Sunday School class knows who the President of the United States is. Probably everyone knows how many states are in the United States. Probably everyone knows who was the first man that God created.
There are some things that no one in the class knows except you. Can you think of something that you know that probably no one else knows in your class? For example, someone might have a stamp collection and he might know certain things about stamps that no one else has learned. Someone else might like to study birds and this person might know things about birds that no one else is aware of.
There are some things that no one knows except God. Who is the
only One who knows the day of our death? _______ Who is the only One who knows
the day when Christ will return (Matthew 24:36)? ____________________________
God knows our hearts. He knows all about us. He knows what we think.
He knows all about what will happen tomorrow and next week and next year.
How we need to trust Him every day!
As you look at yourself in the mirror, you need to ask yourself, "What does this person feel?"
Do you know the warmth of people that care?
Do you know the burden of despair (when you start feeling down and start losing hope)?
Do you know what it is to get very excited about something?
Do you know the fire of anger or the chill of fear?
Can you think of a time when someone really cared for you in a special way? Can you think of a time when you were down in the depths of despair? Can you think of a time when you were very excited about something? Can you think of a time when you became very angry about something? Can you think of a time when you were frozen with fear?
Why do you feel these ways (mad, sad, glad, joyful, fearful, tearful, etc.)? When such a feeling comes over you, what can you do about it? There are some things you can do and there are some things God must do. Suppose your father were driving on an icy highway with heavy traffic in the middle of a winter storm. In such a situation a person might become afraid of getting into an accident. There are some things that your father can do (drive carefully, drive slowly, pull over and get off the road, etc.). There are some things that only God can do (protect you and give you a safe trip according to His will).
An important fact is that our thoughts stir up our emotions. We must guard our thinking, and make sure we are looking at events around us as God would have us to. In 2 Corinthians 10:5 we are told to bring "into captivity every _____________________ to the obedience of Christ." We are to control our thinking instead of letting it control us! Remember, it's not events themselves that cause emotions; it's the way we think about them. Consider the following illustration written by a husband:
Some years ago, my wife and I journeyed to the little Caribbean island of Dominica to do counseling workshops and evangelistic preaching. As we approached Dominica, our pilot warned that area wind patterns would create a short period of turbulent conditions, but that we would not need to be concerned because that was usual and they were quite prepared. Sure enough, for several minutes, our small plane shook and trembled. One lady screamed quite loudly, but another—in the seat just ahead of hers—sat quietly while a child on her lap laughed hilariously. It was not the event that produced these two different emotional responses. Rather, it was the interpretation of these events. The vocal lady concluded that her life was in danger and responded by screaming. The child, recognizing she was in the safest place in the world—the loving arms of her mother—responded by laughing at the unsteadiness of the plane.
People feel differently about things. Not everyone feels the
same about the same thing. For example, one person likes strawberry ice cream
and someone else does not. Do you? ______ One person might hear the sound of a
bird in the woods and another person might miss it altogether (or not pay
attention to it). One person might fall down and hurt his knee and really cry
and scream. Another person might fall down in the same way and get right up and
see the blood but not cry at all. Everyone is different, and everyone reacts
differently.
As you look at yourself in the mirror, you might ask yourself,
"What does this person need?" As you think about your needs you will learn that
the living God has all that you need. Even if no one else could help you, He
can!
I need food to eat, air to breathe and clothing to wear. I need sleep and I need shelter (a roof over my head). I need protection from danger. Can you think of anything else that a person really needs to live and survive?
Sometimes we might not feel that we get everything we need. We might wish we could have certain foods or clothes. We might want to live in a better house. But compared to most of the people in the world, we would probably be considered rich!
Does the Heavenly Father know what your needs are (Matthew
6:32)? _____ Is He able to feed you (Matthew 6:26)? _____ Is He able to clothe
you (Matthew 6:28-30)? _____ If we put the Lord first in our lives, will He see
to it that our needs are met (Matthew. 6:33)? ______ If we give God
His rightful place (by putting Him first), He will be sure to take care of us!
As a person I need to be loved and I need to love. But sometimes I might feel sorry for myself and say something like this: "No one loves me and I don’t love anybody."
Everyone has a need to be cared for. What would you think about a tiny baby bird that was not cared for by the mother bird? What would you think about a kitten that was abandoned by its mother? People need that tender loving care and attention too.
David once said, "When my ________________ and my
__________________ forsake me (abandon me), then the __________ wi1l take me up"
(Psalm 27:10). "God so loved the world" (John 3:16). Does that include you?
_________ Because He loves, I can love: "We love ___________, because He first
__________ us" (1 John 4:19). We should love God, and who else should we love
(1 John 3:14-16)? ______________________________________
I need to be me! God never asked me to be someone else. He asked me to be me!
As a person I need to be both independent and dependent.
1) Independent--as an independent person I must be myself! I can’t be another person. I must live my own life and I must make my own decisions and I must stand on my own ground. I must make my own decision to be saved (my parents cannot make this decision for me). No one else can believe on Christ for me. Once I am saved, I must work out my own salvation (no one else can work it out for me--see Philippians 2:12). In the future I must stand before Christ as an individual. I will not be lost in the crowd because "every one of us shall give account of himself (not somebody else) to God" (Romans 14:12).
2) Dependent--as a dependent person I need help!
Without Christ I can do __________________(John 15:5). No man is an island to live all
by himself. We live in a world filled with people (a society) and we need other
people and other people need us. We depend on other people and they depend on
us. Can you think of how people need each other and depend upon each other? (when
it comes to
food, clothing, transportation, electricity, etc.) But most of all, we depend on the Lord.
As a person I need to be valued and appreciated. Sometimes we
might feel very unimportant. We might feel that we are of no value to anybody,
but this is not true. God thinks that we are valuable enough and important
enough for Him to die for us! God paid a great price to save us! (Usually when we go
to the store we do not pay a great price for something unless we think It is
valuable). Did Jesus want us to know that we are valuable to God (Matthew
10:29-31)? _______ God says that believers are "His inheritance" (Ephesians
1:18). This means that we are very precious and valuable to Him!
As a person, I need to grow and develop. To grow up I must change. I cannot stay the same. There is only one Person who does not need to grow and who does not need to change. Who is this Person (Malachi 3:6)? _______________________
We must remember that growing takes time. The body is growing all the time, but how long does it take forus to grow 14 inches? Our physical appearance is changing all the time, but the change is so slow that we do not even notice it. But as we look back at our own pictures taken one year ago and two years ago and five years ago, we see that we really have changed.
We also must remember that our body is changing physically. As a person grows, older the body changes in different ways. For example, as boys get into the 7th or 8th grade their voices may begin to change (and usually become lower). Girls have physical changes also. These changes sometimes make us happy and sometimes they make us sad. Sometimes these physical changes can make a person moody or restless or even rebellious. Why is this so? These changes are taking place in me and certain things are happening to my body. How do I feel about these changes? Sometimes I might feel unsure or insecure about them. I may not understand what is happening to me or I may not like what is happening to me. I may not know what to do about it. I may feel self conscious about it. I may feel that everyone thinks my low voice is funny. I am realizing that I am too old to be a baby and too young to be a teen.
In Christ I can find the freedom that I need to grow up and to be everything that I should and can be (Ephesians 4:13-15). Jesus said that He can make a person free indeed (John 8:36).
God has answered all of my needs! He has what I need! "I am P__________ and N______________; yet the Lord thinketh upon ________: Thou art my H________________" (Psalm 40:17).
Is just one sheep important to the shepherd (Luke
15:3-7)? _____ Is just one person important to God, the Great Shepherd? ______
Are
you important to God? ______
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