Family Devotion Idea: The Apple Core
*About once a week, we try to post the outline of a family devotion that you and your kids can do together. Carve out some time with your kids for a fun and creative discussion this week!
Teaching Goal:
Teaching stewardship of money.
Scripture:
Proverbs 3:9-10a “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing.”
Materials:
Apples
Sharp knife
Optional: caramel or other fruit dip
Lesson and Discussion:
*Words that are written in bold are when you, the parent, are speaking. Feel free to use your own words.
ACTIVITY:
Doesn’t this apple look good? We’re going to eat it later, but first I’m going to cut it into pieces as we talk about stewardship. What does stewardship mean? Listen as they guess. Stewardship is how we use our money, time and skills. Right now we’re going to talk about how we use our money, but this lesson can also be used to talk about how we use our time and skills.
What is the biggest thing most families spend money on? Home, apartment, housing. Most families spend the biggest part of their money on their home. Each month we pay a mortgage/lease. With older children, explain a mortgage/lease, and you may want to talk about the amount. In addition to our mortgage/lease, we pay utilities—electricity, gas, garbage pick-up, water, homeowner fees. From time to time we spend money for repairs to fix things that break or paint things that get old. Money is also needed for yard work. As you are speaking, use the knife to cut a large piece of apple off of the core. NOTE: Eventually you will cut off five pieces of apple, each one smaller than the previous piece, leaving just the core. This big slice of apple represents the money we spend on our home.
You may have heard Mom and Dad talk about taxes, but do you know what taxes are? Money we pay the government—federal, state, county, city. Do you know what our tax money pays for? Schools, police & fire protection, roads, social services, libraries, parks, public buildings, etc. Our tax money pays for a lot of things that we use every day to make our lives run smoothly. As you speak, cut a second piece of apple slightly smaller than the first piece, away from the core. This slice of apple represents the money we pay for taxes.
Another big chunk of money goes to pay for our car(s). Cars are expensive. Every month we pay toward a loan/lease. Plus, each week we pay to fill the car with gas, and from time to time we pay money for new oil, new tires and mechanical repairs. We need a car to get to work, church, softball practice, swimming lessons and the grocery store. As you speak, cut a third piece of apple off the core. This slice of apple represents the money we spend on our car.
It takes money to feed our family of [four (three, etc.)]! We spend money every month for milk, bread, breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Cut a fourth piece of the apple off the core. This slice represents the money we spend on food.
We work hard to make money to pay for our home, taxes, cars and food. After work I need relaxation! Sometimes I watch TV, videos or play a computer game. Ask the kids: How many TV’s and/or videos and computer games do we have? Or we may go out to a movie theater or go out for dinner. Sometimes I play (insert your own interest: golf, boating, hunting, etc.) which helps me relax. All of those things we like to do cost money. While speaking, cut the last piece of apple away from the core. This last piece of apple represents the money we spend on entertainment.
I want to read you a scripture from the Bible. Read Proverbs 3:9-10a. What do you think God means by honoring Him with the firstfruits of our crops? Listen to their guesses. All the money we have comes from God. Giving our firstfruits to God means to give first to God from what we have. Before we spend money on ourselves we need to give back to God a portion of what He has given to us.
Hold up the apple core. All we have left of our apple is the core. How do you feel about giving this core to God? Sad, embarrassed, silly. Do you see what we have left of our apple when we spend money on ourselves first? We need to honor God by cutting Him the very first slice from our apple. Talk about how your family budgets and gives money to the church, ministries, missionaries, etc. Talk about how you use money to make meals for people who are sick or make anonymous gifts to families who are out of work.
Let’s look back at the scripture. What does God promise in Proverbs to us when we obey Him and give Him the firstfruits of what we have? To fill our barns to overflowing. Since we don’t have barns or crops, what do you think that means for our family? That we will have all that we need, that we will be blessed. God loves us more than we can imagine. He wants us to obey Him with our money and then He promises to bless us beyond our wildest dreams!
OPTIONAL: For a snack, cut the apple into smaller pieces and dip the pieces in caramel, chocolate or another sauce. Consider having each person dip one piece at a time and feed it to the person on their right. Serving others is one way of giving to God, and this is an example of giving to another person before giving to ourselves.
If you like this devotion idea, there are hundreds more available from Family Time Training. See the link on the left side of this page for more information.