We had a great month in June learning about faith.  Faith is a great virtue to lead us into our virtue of perseverance in July because faith and perseverance go hand-in-hand: God uses our faith to strengthen our perseverance and perseverance to deepen our faith.

Many people think by becoming a Christian, life will get easier.  But that’s just not the way life works.  Life can be tough even for those who believe in Jesus and have a lot of faith in God.  Life can often require us to have perseverance—refusing to give up when life gets hard.

Thankfully, God is an amazing example of what perseverance should look like.  He not only created it, He exemplifies it, and He instills it in us.  No one is more persevering than God.  Because of His great love for us (even when people often ignore him, disobey him, or do a manner of evil things), He still wanted a relationship with us so much that He sent his Son to be our Savior.  No matter what we endure here on earth, it will never compare to the suffering Jesus went through for us.

Perseverance can be a hard thing to teach kids because it’s easy for them to think circumstances determine how much God loves them.  SO when things are going badly, they might think God does not love them.  But when things are going well, they think God loves them a lot.  It’s important we teach them early on that God is GOD and He is our perfect Father.  He will ALWAYS love us and He will NEVER give up doing what is best for us, even through trials.  So by teaching this truth, our kids can then go through a tough situation and know that God is going to use it to do something good for them and in them. We need to help our kids focus on not giving up when life gets tough so they don’t miss out on the incredible things God has planned for them and others around them who they may be able to influence for God’s purpose.

This month we will plunge into learning about Perseverance through the following lessons:

• When life seems impossible, remember what others did.  Hebrews 10:32-36; 11:32-40; 12:1
• When life seems impossible, remember what Jesus did for you.  Hebrews 12:2-3; Matthew 28:20
• When life seems impossible, remember what God wants to do in you.  Hebrews 12:7, 9-12
• When life seems impossible, remember what you do can help someone else’s faith. Hebrews 12:12-15

Memory Verse:

“Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31