Teaching Help for "Am I Putting the Things of God First in My Life?" (December 11)
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Share the gospel of Jesus Christ at church on December 11th with the lesson, “Am I Putting the Things of God First in My Life?” in your Young Women’s or Aaronic Priesthood Quorum. This is an excellent lesson and there are great ways to tie it into Christmas. Don't worry. One of the quotes that I really like from the Come Follow Me manual is, “The busyness of life can cause us to forget the purpose of life.” That's the whole goal of this lesson, to help us keep our focus on why we're here and to put the things of God First.
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Watch or Listen
117 Names for Jesus
There is a great quote by brother, Brad Wilcox that says, “Christmas serves as an annual wake up call. Each Noel is truly an invitation for us to know God well.” (From his book, “Because of the Messiah in a Manger”) It's a good reminder to bring our focus back toward God. What happens when we know God well? Our priorities change. What differences does your class notice with the people they are around in the month of December? Most people are happier, they're more willing to give, to do service, and the overall mood is more joyful. That's because whether people realize it or not, our focus goes back to God. We have this yearly reminder, but we also have a weekly reminder, and that is partaking of the sacrament.
The Come Follow Me manual suggests coming up with some questions that your class can ponder as you partake of the sacrament. Great activity, totally recommend it. I was also reminded of the talk that was just given in the October 2022 General Conference by Elder Jonathan S. Schmitt. One week when he was partaking of the sacrament, he was inspired to ask himself, “Which name of Christ am I taking upon myself?” Now he always ponders about the different names for Christ. That's what we're going to do too. There are a couple of fun ways to go about this.
Print the List and Study
I have made a list of some names for Jesus that you can print out. I went all the way to 117, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. There is extra space so that you can continue to add additional names that you find on this list. There are also some questions to ponder at the top of the sheet. Plus each name has a scripture reference to help you start studying the names as well. Take some time in your class, pick a name and study it, then ask some of the questions such as: What are some attributes in that name and how can I have those? What would my priorities then be if I am going to take this name upon myself this week? Elder Schmitt goes over five different names that you can take upon yourself as well. If you want to just pick one of those and go into more detail with his help.
Names for Jesus Christmas Countdown
If you want to add a little bit more of a Christmas twist to this, try my Names for Jesus Christmas Candy Study. There are 14 names for the candy wrappers and this lesson is typically taught on December 11 so it works out perfectly. Your class can start that evening, you can do one together, and then you end on Christmas Eve. Or your class can start the next morning and end on Christmas morning. My kit comes with a study sheet so they can explore the name a little bit more. There are lots of different sizes of wrappers for different types of candies or popcorn, whatever you want to do. It's a fun little thing that you can send home to continue that study of Jesus Christ as they countdown to Christmas.
Use both ideas or focus on one. As our focus is more on Jesus Christ, putting Him first in our lives makes it easier.
Story Time
This is the week where we just finished reading Haggai 1:6-7:
“Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.”
Such great scripture verses and where this lesson is drawing from. There's a great story about deer from President Boyd K. Packer that you can tell to set the scene for these verses first. These deer had come down further into the valley than normal and were outside of their natural habitat. There was this massive snowstorm and they were kind of stuck. That means these deer were low on food for the winter. All these well-intended people came and dropped truckloads of hay all over the place for the deer to have enough food and last through the winter. Unfortunately, a lot of the deer still died. They had full bellies of hay, but they died of starvation because the hay didn't have the nutrients that they needed.
Another example you can use is, why don't we drink salt water? If you drink salt water, you become more dehydrated, not less, and it affects other parts of your body too. One last example is I always bring my water bottle with me into a restaurant. You might think I'm crazy, but hear me out. In a restaurant, you get that cup of ice with water. When they refill it, more ice gets poured into your cup and by the end there's all this ice in your cup with a teeny tiny bit of water. It's like a little swallow of water by the end. I always have my water bottle with me because there's never water in the cup.
What are some examples that you can share? Then read that scripture in Haggai 1:6-7. How can your class relate to these scripture verses? When we don't put the things of God first, that is what happens. We don't quench our thirst. What are some of the things of God that we need to put first in our life? For example, President Russell M. Nelson tells us that the greatest, most important work today is the gathering of Israel. How are we making that a priority? What are we doing to participate in the gathering of Israel? Are we putting that among our first things?
Waterfalls and Christmas Gifts
Elder Dale G. Renlund’s talk was also mentioned in the manual. It's from October 2019 titled, “Unwavering Commitment to Jesus Christ.” Elder Renlund had just dedicated a temple in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and they have this beautiful picture of a waterfall when you walk into the temple. In the early days when the Congolese converted to Christianity, they would take their idols that they used to worship and go to a big turbulent waterfall and throw them into it to symbolize that they are turning away from those things and moving on. Use my coloring page from Elder Renlund’s talk to make a cylinder. Then hand out pieces of paper and invite your class to write something on the paper that they are willing to throw over the waterfall. Toss the papers into the middle of the cylinder.
Want a Christmas twist? Use my camel printout and invite your class to write down what they will give to Jesus Christ for Christmas then put it inside a tiny box and wrap it up. Encourage your class to put it under their Christmas tree or in their room somewhere they're not going to forget about it. On Christmas day, they can open it up, see how they've progressed since the lesson, whether it's something that they are giving up and repenting of, or if it's something they're committing to, and remember that on Christmas morning.
A great quote to go with this is from Ezra Taft Benson. He said, “When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives.” Part of the fear of putting God first is, well, what about this? I have to earn my money. I have to do my chores. I have to do all my homework. If I put that first, how am I going to get everything done? We need to remember and trust in the Lord. Trust in that promise that when we put God first, everything else will drop into their proper place or drop out of our lives.
Good, Better, Best
President Oaks gave a talk (also mentioned in the manual) titled “Good, Better, Best” in the October 2007 General Conference where he stated, “Just because something is good is not sufficient reason for doing it.” President Oaks uses the example of Mary and Martha to illustrate his point, but you again can turn back to the book of Haggai and discuss how they had put off building the temple of the Lord because they were rebuilding Jerusalem.
Rebuilding Jerusalem was obviously a good thing to do and important, but that temple really should have been a priority and it wasn't at that time. Encourage people to think of an example from their lives or give them some topics for them to use. What might a good, better, and best look like with that topic? Try bringing in objects to represent good, better, and best. For example, a crown for the best and a tiny piece of candy for good things. Hold up the different items as people evaluate their examples. Topics could include ministering, going to church, reading your scriptures, fasting, things we do in the morning, etc.
What does the good version look like? How can you do it better and how can you do it best? One thing to keep in mind as you're doing this activity though, is we're not really going for perfection. We're not perfect. Obviously, we want to do the best we can and strive for our ideals, but my best is going to be different from somebody else's best, and my best differs every single day. Sometimes my best is actually reading five verses of scripture. But on another day, reading five verses of the scriptures is not my best. Understand the difference between those two things. When we have the time to do more of a study are we picking the best option or are we still sticking to the five verses?
Is the Jar Full?
This leads me into the next idea that continues with this theme. Are we making time for God? If reading five verses is all we can ever do, every single day, maybe there's something that we need to change and reprioritize so that we can make room, make time to be with God every day. Use this object lesson to help illustrate your point.
Grab a jar and any kind of big object that can help fill up the jar. I'm used ping pong balls. Fill the jar as much as possible with your item then ask your class, “Is this jar full?” Then add another item that is slightly smaller. I used chips. Once you have filled it as much as you can with that object, ask again, “Is my jar full?” Then grab some rice or sand and fill up the jar even more. Shake it around a little to help settle things but don't worry too much. Again, ask, “Is it full now?” Finally, pour some water into your jar (you may want a pie tin underneath your jar just in case something spills). Now is our jar full?
Here's the thing I love about this, the jar was full technically every single time. Not all of the things in the jar are necessary. Yes, it is full now with the water and the rice and the chips and the ping pong balls, but it was full with just the ping pong balls too. Are we filling our jars too much? Are there things in our jars that we could do without? Maybe things we need to leave out? How can we simplify our lives and make it easier to put the things of God first?
Our jar does not need to be that full. Another great quote from President Oaks is, “We have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are better or best because they develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthen our families.”
You can tie this simplifying back into the waterfall activity or talk about Christmas and New Year’s. How might we simplify? What things could we let go of whether it's our unrealistic expectations and the pressure that we add to ourselves, or it is letting go of an activity, or a TV show, or the time that we spend on our phone? What can we simplify in our lives to make it easier to put the things of God?
Those are five ideas to help you teach about putting the things of God first in our lives in your Young Women’s class or Aaronic Priesthood Quorum. Remember, you can watch these episodes, you can listen to these episodes, or you can read them at cknscratch.com. I will be back in January sharing more ideas to help you teach at church, as well as sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ at home and beyond.
