I'm Thankful for My Soul

TEXT: Genesis 2:7; John 3:3-7

OBJECTIVE

The students will be able to tell how God gave man a living soul, and will recognize that our soul will live on eternally.‍

BIBLE LESSON OUTLINE

Introduction: Bring an egg to class, and use this as your opener. Ask your students when they talk about having an egg for breakfast, which part do they eat? They eat the inside, although the outside is what they see. Compare the egg and its interior to our body and our soul. We see the body—the shell—but the "real" us is our soul, which will live forever.

1. When God created man, He formed man's body from the dust of the ground. But when He breathed into man the breath of life, He gave him a living soul.
2. Explain to your students that our soul is the part of us that is made to love and worship God.
3. Nicodemus came to Jesus and asked the Lord what it meant to be born again. Jesus explained to Nicodemus that a person needed to be born of the Spirit.

Climax: When a person is born again, the soul is made ready to spend eternity in Heaven.

Conclusion: Man is unique among all of God's creations in that he alone has a living soul. Because that soul will live eternally, it is vital that it be made ready for Heaven.

Response: Your students will be able to explain what the soul is and how man received this. They will be able to tell why a person needs to be born again.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

SOUL (Hebrew nephesh, Greek psyche) is the word commonly used in the Bible to designate the non-material ego of man in its ordinary relationship to earthly and physical things. It is one of a number of words relating to the non-material self. We can see our body but we can't see our soul—the visible and the invisible parts of us.

When God created man He breathed life into him and he became a living soul. The physical body will die and go back to dust but the soul lives eternally, and man himself, having been given his own will, makes the choice for his soul's eternal destiny. Both soul and spirit refer to man's non-material self but the word "soul" is used most often when thought of in relation to one's earthly existence. "Spirit" is the self when thought of apart from earthly connections, where the direct relationship of the individual to God is the point of emphasis.

How thankful we can be that God made us living souls that not only may have fellowship with Christ while in this life but may also spend eternity with Him. Man does not die like an animal. That is not all there is to it. On the primary level, soul may be explained as the "part of me that loves God."

IN-CLASS ACTIVITIES

• Give each child a copy of the Soul puzzle (see Patterns). Provide plenty of the correct colors of crayons. When they have colored the spaces with the right colors they will find a red heart in the center. Explain to the children that our soul is very special. It is the part of us that will live forever, but it is also the part of us that lets us love Jesus and choose to live for Him.
• Make a full-sized (or even larger) copy of the Love Poster for each child (see Patterns). In each of the big letters, have the children write or draw something they can do to show their thankfulness to God for filling their souls with love. Let them color their posters. Tell the children to take their posters home and put them up in their rooms. Each time they look at their posters they should be reminded that their soul will live forever.
• Enlarge a copy of the Thank You, God! heart and use it as a prop in teaching your class about the soul (see Patterns). Cut the heart apart and put it together, one piece at a time, for the class. Start with the bottom piece and talk about when God first gave man a soul. With the second piece, bring out that Jesus is the Savior of the soul and He loves us very much. The third piece should bring out that we need to make a choice—will we choose to love Jesus? It will be the best choice we ever made. Then the last piece brings out how thankful we should be that God loved us enough to give us a soul and to send Jesus to be our Savior.

QUESTIONS

1. What was different in the way God created people and animals?
2. Why does having a soul make us different from an animal, which doesn't have a soul? (Talk about how we can choose right or wrong.)
3. We eat the right food to take care of our body. We sleep at night so that our body will be rested. We exercise so that our body will be strong. How can we take care of our soul?
4. How can you be born again?
5. Is it important to be born again? Why?
6. When we die, what happens to our soul? our body?
7. What does a soul look like?
8. Why should we be thankful for our soul?

PRE-SCHOOL SUGGESTIONS

• Give each child a copy of the dot-to-dot Thankful Heart (see Patterns). Help the children to connect the dots. Talk to them about thanking Jesus for a clean and happy heart.
• Show the children pictures of animals. Ask them to name each one. Talk about how special they are because God made each one. Relate to them that God made man much more special than the animals because we are made in God's image—we have a soul. Give each child his own flip-sided stick puppet (see Patterns). Attach a popsicle stick between the front and back of each puppet. Tell the children that whenever they find themselves being sad (hold up sad face) they should think of how special they are to God and then they can smile (hold up happy face) and thank God.
• Bring a large heart-shaped candy box to class. Inside the heart, place pictures mounted on cut-out white hearts which illustrate good behavior: sharing, loving, praying, etc. Talk about the kinds of things Jesus likes to see in our heart.
  

REVIEW IDEAS‍

Using an overhead transparency, show the students a large, empty heart (see Patterns). Remind them that the soul is the part of us that will live forever. It is the part of us that makes us different from everything else because the soul can love God (overlay the word LOVE in the heart). One at a time, overlay the love-verses given. Have the students read them aloud with you. Reserve the verses 1 John 4:7 and 8 until last. Just before you overlay this verse, remind the students that this is a lesson on being thankful for the soul. One way of telling God "Thank You" is to obey. Tell them the next verse you put onto the screen is also a song. Some of the children may already know the song. It is a catchy tune, fun to sing, and most importantly, a good reminder of one way to thank God. (The song, "Beloved, Let Us Love One Another," can be found on the Bible Sing-Along cassette tape or record by Maranatha For Kids.)

God gave man a soul when He said, "Let us make man in our image." The soul is what makes us different from all the rest of God's creation. Our soul makes us able to talk with God, to love God, and to obey God. Our soul will live forever and is the most valuable part of us. Teach the children the song called, MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD (see Patterns). It will help to impress on the children the great value of a soul, and, in particular, that their own soul is precious to God.

Enlarge the simple puzzle which is in the shape of a person (see Patterns), making the head, arms, and legs all separate pieces. Leave an empty space in the middle, shaped like a heart. Assemble the whole form, piece by piece, with your group, allowing volunteers to tell how we use each part. When the puzzle is completed, point out the blank space. Explain that Jesus created each of us with a soul. He gave us that soul so we could love and worship Him. Fill the blank space with a heart-shaped piece containing a picture of Jesus.

Bring a dying plant, broken toy, etc. How long will these last? Relate them to how our soul lives forever.

SUPPORT MATERIAL

• God Made Me Special — Happy Day Book, Standard Publishing
• God Knows You — Happy Day Book, Standard Publishing
• God's Plan for Me — by Judy Hull Moore, Gospel Publishing House
• You're One-of-a-Kind — by Joy Wilt Berry, "Ready-Set-Grow!" Series, Gospel Publishing House