Goal: To engage our children in the sermon. We want to encourage an open dialogue with our children about the Sunday sermon.
We explore the Hebrew word “nephesh” that often gets translated as “soul.” The English word usually refers to a non-material essence of a human that survives after death, but nephesh means something different. It is referring to humans as living, breathing, physical beings, or just to life itself. Prepare to be surprised at the biblical meaning of this fascinating word!
Today we will learn what it means to love the Lord our God with our “Nephesh.”
Materials for today’s lesson: (Don’t give these to your children until the very end of the lesson.)
Watch
Read & Discuss
Deuteronomy 6: 4-9 Read here
We want to focus on loving God with all your soul. When the Bible talks about the soul, it’s usually translated from a word that has a different meaning. We think of the soul as that part of us that lives on after death. Here the Bible is referring to the whole human being. That Hebrew word, Nephesh, means the whole person, that is, the body, spirit, mind, heart, thoughts, everything.
- The Nephesh is your whole self. Can you think of anything else that makes you who you are?
- If God wants us to love him with our bodies, then how do we do that?
- If God wants us to love him with our minds, then how do we do that?
- What would your life be like if you loved God with all your Nephesh, that is, your body and mind?
- Do you think you would be happy? Or do you think it would make you miserable?
Douglas makes a good point.
- If Jesus is going to live inside us, then what are some things you need to put in your self that Jesus is going to want to live with in there?