What is God’s plan for marriage? Includes a lesson, 2 games, and a craft.
Needed: drawing paper and crayons or colored pencils
Intro Game: Act it Out
Divide students into teams of two. Give them each a scenario related to dating or marriage to act out. They’ll have a few minutes to plan their scene. Then, each group will show the class what they came up with.
Scenario examples include Asking someone out on a date, Asking someone to marry you, Picking out a wedding dress, Getting married, Moving out of your parents’ house to move in with your new husband or wife, Getting into a fight with your husband or wife, Saying you’re sorry to your husband or wife after you fight
Lesson
Ask students, Does anyone remember why God gives us rules? (God gives us rules because He loves us. The rules He gives us are meant to protect us and others.)
How many of you are married?
How many of you think you will be married someday?
Chances are that most of us will fall in love and get married someday, so it’s important for you to start learning some of the things that God says about marriage now. That way, you can think about these things before you do get married.
Right now, who is the most important person in your life?
(Have a student read Genesis 2:24 , quoted here in the NIV.)
“That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is unitedto his wife, and they become one flesh.”
Right now, the most important people in your lives are probably your parents or grandparents or maybe a friend. But this Bible verse is telling us that when we get married, that person that we get married to, ourhusband or our wife, will be the most important person to us. We’ll move out of our parents’ house and we’ll start our own family with our new husband or wife and our husband or wife will be the most important person to us.
Let’s look at another Bible verse.
(Have a student read Exodus 20:14 , NIV.)
“You shall not commit adultery.”
God says, “Do not commit adultery.” This means that when we get married, we can’t have any other boyfriends or girlfriends.
If you were married, but then you liked somebody else, how do you think that would make your husband or wife feel? (You may have students whose parents have divorced for this very reason, so be sensitive to that and listen to anything that your students may have to share on the subject.)
We can’t have crushes on or like anybody else. We can only love our husband or our wife in that way. If we like somebody else or have another girlfriend or boyfriend, that will really hurt our husband or wife’s feelings and we wouldn’t want to do that because we love them.
But what happens if someone decides that they don’t love their husband or wife anymore? Can they get divorced and then have other boyfriends or girlfriends?
Lots of people do get divorced because they decide they don’t love their husband or wife anymore. But when people get married, they make a promise to stay married forever. God wants us to keep our promises when we get married. In fact, God says that He hates divorce.
So, what should two people do if they decide they don’t love each other anymore?
They should try to work out. They can talk to counselors. They can learn how to not fight. At the very least, they can live how to keep living with each other so that they keep their promise to stay married. Maybe after a little while, they’ll start loving each other again if they keep their promise to stay married.
So, the three things for you to understand about marriage for now is that when you get married, your husband or wife is the most important person to you except for God. And you are only married to that one person. You can’t have any other girlfriends of boyfriends. You love only your husband or wife in that way. Third, marriage is forever, so you have to learn to work out any problems you have with your husband or wife.
Craft: The List
Give students drawing supplies and have them make two lists. On one side of the paper, they should list what they’re looking for in a future spouse. Remind them that the most important things will be the person’s spiritual qualities, not how they look or how much money they make.
On the second side of the paper, have the students list how they will treat their future spouse. Remind them of what you talked about in the lesson.
Game: The Course of Life Dice
Make a grid on the floor with six rows across and as many columns as you have students. Have the students line up at one side of the grid, each in front of one column. They take turns rolling a die. The winner is the first student to roll 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 in a row.
When a student rolls a 1, they move into their first square. Announce that they asked a boy or girl out on a date.
When a student rolls a 2, they move forward to the next square. Announce that they asked a boy or girl to marry them.
On a 3, announce that they got married.
On a 4, announce that they had a baby.
On a 5, announce that they had an argument with the husband or wife and must take one step back.
On a 6, announce that they made up with their spouse and can take two steps forward. They win the game.
Students do not move forward until they roll the next number in their “story.”
Play again to give someone else a chance to win.
Closing Prayer
Father God, thank You for giving us the idea of marriage. As we get older, help us to always remember that marriage is to one person, who will be the most important person to us and who we need to keep our promises to. In Jesus name, amen.
This lesson is included in my book, The Lord’s Top Ten: Children’s Sunday School Lessons on the Ten Commandments.