39. Jesus Is Caring

Materials Needed

• one sheet of white paper per child (or driveway)
• crayons (or sidewalk chalk)
• pen
• bowl
• slips of paper
• Bible

Setting The Stage

You do not have to look far to see the caring side of Jesus. This will be a time for your children to see this characteristic. As you read aloud the examples on the slips of paper, the children will have a chance to communicate the act of caring through their creative drawing.

An option is to allow them to draw on the driveway with sidewalk chalk rather than on a piece of paper with crayons (an added bonus could be that others in the neighborhood could also learn about the caring side of Jesus when you are doing this devotional outside).

Project

Write the following examples on slips of paper, fold them in half and place them in a bowl. Do this before the devotional begins.

• John 19:26-27: Even when Jesus was dying on the cross and in much pain, he still cared for his mother. When he saw her standing by the cross he made sure his friend would take care of her after he died.
• John 11:1-5 & 11:32-44: One of Jesus’ best friends died. The man’s name was Lazarus. Even though Jesus knew he was going to bring him back to life, Jesus still cried. This showed how much he cared for Lazarus and his two sisters.
• Mark 10:13-16: The parents wanted to have their children touched by Jesus. Jesus cared so much for the little children that when the men tried to stop the children from going to Jesus he responded, “Let the little children come to me!” The children came to Jesus and he blessed them.
• Matthew 14:14: Jesus spent a lot of time while he was on earth healing those who were sick. He helped a man walk who could not walk, a man see who could not see and a woman who was bleeding to stop bleeding. He did all this and more because he cared for the hurting people.

Share with the children that they are going to learn about how caring Jesus is. Allow each child to have a turn choosing a slip of paper from the bowl. After the adult reads the verse and what is written on the slip of paper all the children are to draw a little picture of what they just heard. Each picture will be a bit different. For the younger ones parents might have to draw the picture and let them color it. The end product will be either a page or a driveway filled with little pictures of how Jesus cared. Either way it will be a good reminder of how caring Jesus was and is.

Note: For the three to four year old choose one passage and one picture.

Memory Verse

I Peter 5:7b
He cares for you.

Ask your children how Jesus shows them that he cares. Some potential answers could be ... “By giving us a warm home, loving parents, food to eat, nice friends, the Bible!!”

Prayer

Thank God that Jesus not only cared for people in the Bible, but that he also cares for us now.