Preteen Children’s Ministry Devotion: Is It Really True?

This simple preteen devotion will help students in fifth- and sixth-grade better understand that God is the ultimate source of truth.

You’ll need:

• 2 bowls
• plastic spoons
• salt

Preteen Children’s Ministry Devotion: Is It Really True?

On a table, set out the two bowls of salt and several spoons. Gather the kids in a group near the table. Say: Every day you hear or see things that make you wonder if it’s the truth or not. What’s something you have seen or heard and then wondered if it was true? For example, I saw a TV ad that told me if I bought a special cream and put it on my face every night, I would never have any wrinkles. I wonder if that was true. Who want to go next? Wait for kids to respond.

Say: Sometimes it’s hard to know whether something we hear or see is the truth or not. Sometimes the truth and a lie look the same, but we have to decide. Let’s have an experience together to see what I mean. On the table are two bowls. One might have sugar in it, and the other might have salt in it. But they both look the same, I’m not going to tell you what’s in the bowls. Here’s the deal: If you think you know what’s in the bowls, I’ll let you go to the table and take a small amount in one of the spoons. Don’t eat it yet–just carry it back in the spoon and sit down. When all our volunteers make their choice, you may taste what you have in your spoon. Then we’ll see who ended up with what.

Let kids volunteer to go get a small amount (not too much or they will get sick!) from one of the bowls. Don’t let kids shake the bowls or smell them. They have to make their choice by looking at the bowls.

When everyone who sampled from the two bowls sits back down, have them taste what’s in their spoons. Don’t react to what happens. Simply ask what they had in their spoons. Soon kids will figure our that no one got any sugar because both bowls have salt in them.

Debriefing

Ask:

• How do you feel right now?
• How could you tell if it was sugar or salt in the bowl?
• Describe another time you couldn’t tell if something was really what it seemed to be?

Say: I told you one of the bowls might have sugar in it and one of the bowls might have salt in it. I got away with that because sugar and salt both look the same. All you had to do was try to make the right choice. You see, things are not always what they appear to be. Sometimes we need to test things to see if they’re really true. If I had let you touch or move the bowls, you might have been able to figure out that both bowls have salt in them. Not everything we are told stands up to the truth test. It’s hard to know what’s true sometimes. But God’s truth always passes the test. God never tells us something that isn’t true–never! Whatever God tells us in the Bible is always the truth. We never have to doubt it.

Read aloud John 8:31-32. Ask:

• What did Jesus say we had to do in order to know the truth?
• What did Jesus say would happen to us when we know the truth about something?
• Why do you think people sometimes lie to us?
• What do you think that means?
• How would you feel if you thought God sometimes lied to you?

Say: As long as we listen to what God and Jesus say in the Bible, we will always know the truth. We never have to worry about being lied to by God, and this helps us feel free to believe the Bible.

For more preteen content, check out Group’s BE BOLD Sunday school curriculum. In this curriculum, you’ll find lessons specifically geared toward preteens and their faith questions. For a sample lesson, check out this article. And for even more preteen ideas, check out these posts!