We are what we eat – object lesson for youth

Today's blog is taken from an article in Group magazine

 

Supplies you'll need:
Bibles
a whiteboard
a marker
assorted bubblegum or mouldable lollies
a ball
Cookie Dough (Aunty Kathys Cookie dough works well, find it in the fridge section of your supermarket)
Hershey Kisses (or use another type of chocolate)
a cooking tray and access to an oven

Overview: We are what we eat
 Key Scripture: John 6:35 "I am the bread of life."


Opening activity:
Play demolition Bowling. Form teams of 3 or 4. Hand each team an assortment of bubblegum and mouldable lollies (such as gum balls or liquorice sticks). Say something like: You have 2 minutes to make a Candy-man that can stand on its own.


After a couple of minutes, line-up your Candy-men. Then give each team a chance to roll a ball to knock down the opposing group's Candy-men - add 10 points for each knock down and subtract 10 points if you knock down your own Candy-man!


Transition by saying:
Have you ever heard the saying, "You are what you eat"? If it were true, our bodies would not look much different from these Candy-men - with chips and coke added. However, in another sense, the saying is true."
 
Ask: How does the stuff we eat impact us?

   
Then say something like: On a deeper level, we intake (eat) other things, don't we? For example, what we watch on TV, what we look at online, what we read in books and what we hear from others.

  
Ask: What are some other things we take in? How do these 'foods' change us?

   
Then say: The Bible actually uses the same metaphor when it talks about our spiritual lives. There is food that's healthy and food that's not.

   
Ask someone to read aloud Ezekiel 3:1-4

   
Say something like: In this example, Ezekiel literally eats a scroll (a Bible)

   
Ask: What was God trying to teach Ezekiel? What is Ezekiel supposed to do after he eats it? Ezekiel can only give what he's taken in - how does that apply to our relationship with God?

   
Read aloud Matthew 4:1-4, then ask: What was Jesus trying to say in his response to Satan?

   
Read aloud Deuteronomy 8:3, then ask: How does this verse apply to our spiritual diet?


 Read aloud John 6:27-35.

Say something like: The Israelites lived on manna in the wilderness - food literally provided by God. Here, Jesus is saying he's just like manna-he gives us life. Jesus is saying "eat me!" Remember, we are what we eat! Some of it is like junk food to our souls Some is like soul food.

   
On a white board, write "Junk food"
Ask: Let's brainstorm some things that are spiritual junk foods- things we do, look at, think about, talk about and listen to that are unhealthy?


 Now write "Soul food".
Ask: What are things we can 'eat' that would be good food for our souls?

Say something like: We've learnt that we really are what we eat. To help that sink in, let's make a batch of cookies. (Give each person a chunk of cookie dough and a Hershey Kiss.) Before you put your cookie on the pan, think about a 'soul food' you can 'eat' this week - commit to eating that soul food by placing your Hershey Kiss in the centre of your cookie dough.

  
Put the cookies in the oven and pray until you hear the timer go off.

   
Then eat some soul food! Enjoy!!


 
Extract from Group Magazine. Mar-Apr 2009 Vol 35, No. 2