As I have revealed before, I am teaching a children’s Bible class on Sunday mornings. We are currently doing lessons through the Book of Matthew. When I came to the beginning of Matthew chapter five, I really, really struggled with the lesson. Matthew 5:3-12 is a section of scripture which begins what has been named the “sermon on the mount”; however, the specific verses mentioned deal with the beatitudes. I think that although this section of scripture is hard to understand, children still need to be exposed to the beatitudes and taught the beatitudes.
One of the first things to consider when teaching your children about the beatitudes is the amount of time you desire to spend on the subject matter. I think that the general concept could be taught in one lesson, or if you wanted to go into a more in-depth study it could be spread across several lessons.
Another thing to consider when teaching your children about the beatitudes is the vocabulary which is involved. When I taught this lesson to my class, there were many, many words which were used in this section of scripture that they were not familiar with. For instance, does your child know what the word “blessed” means? That is a difficult concept to explain to children. What about the words meek, inherit, righteousness, merciful, peacemaker, mercy, persecution, persecute, or mourn? Children must have knowledge of these words in order to fully understand these concepts.
One thing I discovered when I sat down to complete my lesson on the beatitudes, is that I did not have a good understanding of this section of scripture. This humbling experience reminded me of the importance of knowing God’s Word. I also think that the realization that I did not have a good understanding of the beatitudes, made me realize that this lesson is going to be difficult for children. Perhaps the best way to approach this lesson is with the attitude that you will introduce the concept of the beatitudes to your children, so that they will have a foundation for further lessons as they grow up.
Read the previous Bible Stories: The Calling of Disciples