High 5

“Helping children understand and live out the GREATEST COMMANDMENT - Loving GOD and loving OTHERS”

"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love others as yourself.' All the other commandments hang on these two."

Mark 12:30 & Matthew 22:38-41

Overview

 There are many commandments found in the Bible and all of them are important to learn and follow. Jesus was asked what was the one greatest commandment of them all and he answered by saying that there were really two - loving God and loving others. He then said that all of the other commandments hung on, or were supported and made possible by, these two. It is through loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and loving others as ourselves, that we are able to follow all the other commandments. Jesus said this was the greatest commandment - they are the HIGH 5. This five lesson unit focuses on each of these five parts by helping children understand and live out this love in their own lives. Each lesson highlights a different one of the HIGH 5 by showing how that kind of love was demonstrated in the life of the Biblical character David. In each lesson a parallel is drawn between David and his love for God and other people and how that love helped David live his life as a man of God - “a man after God’s own heart”.

 Unit at a Glance

Lesson #1 — “Heart”

“Loving God with all my Heart helps me be close to him” - I Samuel 16:1-13

Feelings follow behavior and when we act in loving ways towards God our feelings of love for him increase and we grow closer to him. David was a man who had a heart after God, that means his heart was like God’s heart and he loved God dearly. Even though David was young, God chose him to be the king because he saw his heart.

Lesson #2 — “Mind”

“Loving God with all my Mind helps me think good thoughts” - I Samuel 17

Our thoughts determine much about our lives. Thinking in loving ways toward God actually helps us think good thoughts and those thoughts affect us in many ways. David understood that God was always with him. He had a deep love for God and desire to defend his honor. David’s battle with Goliath seemed like it was an impossible situation. While he had to actually fight Goliath, it was his thinking that won the battle.

Lesson #3 — “Soul”

“Loving God with all my Soul helps me choose to follow him” - I Samuel

All of us have eternal souls - the part of who we are that makes us different from all the other creatures in the world. It is in this soul where we find our will - the part of us where we decide things, discover our purpose and make goals. Choosing to follow God “no matter what” is an expression of our love for him. David chose to follow God in every way, even when it meant waiting to receive what had already been promised him.

Lesson #4 — “Strength”

“Loving God with all my Strength gives me the power to put my love into action” -  2 Samuel

Looking at the way we act is a good way of seeing how much we love God. Putting our love into action consistently over a period of time is a very important way of showing our love to God. And loving him, in turn, actually gives us the power to put our love into action. David loved God very deeply and that gave him the power to put his love into action through all the years he was king.

Lesson #5 — “Others”

“Loving Others as myself helps me treat them right” - 2 Samuel 9

How we treat other people is also a good way of seeing how much we love God. Treating others right and the same way that we would want to be treated, is an expression of love for them and love for God. When David was much older he wished to show kindness to someone in Saul and Jonathan’s family. Saul had a grandson named Mephibosheth who was crippled as a baby but now was a man. David took him in and treated him with great honor and as one of his own sons - showing him love for the sake of Jonathan.