INTERMEDIATE LEVEL 1 – Lesson 19 for Students

LESSON 19: READ AND RESPOND

THEME: The Father’s Love

VOCABULARY: identity. expect, disappoint,  pressure, impress, unconditionally, earn, gradually

STORY: There is a girl. She is 16 years old. Her name is Becca. Becca lives at home with her mom. She struggles a lot with her identity. She is a beautiful girl, but sometimes she feels like she is not good enough. Her mom expects her to do a lot every day. She feels like she needs to be a perfect daughter, student, and friend. Every day Becca wakes up feeling like she cannot continue trying so hard. Becca is a good student. She does all of her work. She is on her school’s soccer team. She practices soccer four days each week. Becca loves to play soccer but she is struggling with keeping up with her studies. When Becca gets home after school, all she wants to do is sleep. She is just so tired of trying to be the best at everything. She feels like if she is not the best at everything, she will disappoint her mom. Every day she feels more and more pressure. What she doesn’t realize is that she does not have to be perfect. Her mom will love her no matter what. Even more important than that is the love of God the Father. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Although Becca feels like she has to be perfect to please her mom, she does not have to be perfect to please her Father in Heaven. God loves us no matter what. We don’t have to try to impress Him. He will be there with us and will love us unconditionally. 1 John 3:1 says, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” Understanding the love of the Father is difficult, but we don’t have to earn God’s love for us. Becca is gradually learning that she does not have to be perfect to be loved. 

ACTIVITIES

  1. Review the Vocabulary Words .
  2. Listen to Audio 1  as you read the story.
  3. Listen to Audio 2 – Story with Questions as you read the story and answer the questions.
  4. Think about the main theme: 
    1. Do we need to be perfect to receive love?
    2. What is the lie we often believe? (We have to impress people to receive love)
    3. Who loves us unconditionally? (God) 
    4. Have you ever felt unloved? By who, and why? 
    5. Even when you don’t feel loved by others you are ALWAYS loved by the Lord.
  5. End the class with prayer.