Am I Showing Thankfulness?

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Exodus 20:17 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Supplies: enough small and large candy bars to give each student

(Pull out the small candy bars. Be sure the large ones cannot be seen yet.)
I brought some candy bars. You cannot eat them now. However, I will pass them out. (Pass out the small bars.)

Does everyone have one? Are you glad that I brought them? Do you appreciate getting that candy bar? (Allow plenty of time for response.) Great!

Now. (Pull out the large bars.) Oh look, I also brought some large candy bars. I wasn’t planning on handing these out. But let me ask you, how many of you would much rather have this large candy bar instead of the small one you have? Let’s do this, everyone who would like the larger candy bar instead, pass your small one up front. (After all of the candy bars have been passed in, continue.)

Okay, is there anyone who still has a small candy bar? Everyone wants the big candy bar. Well, I thought you said that you were glad I brought the small ones. In fact, didn’t you say that you appreciated getting the small candy bars? If you appreciated it so much, then why did you give it back to me to get the other one? This is a good example of coveting. When we covet something, we are showing God that we are not thankful and do not appreciate what He has already given us. What would you say if I didn’t give you any of these candy bars now? By your actions, you were telling me that you didn’t appreciate the little candy bar. So if you can’t appreciate the little candy bar, you can’t appreciate a big one either. That’s how things work with God, too. He gives us what we need and when we show Him that we can appreciate it and handle what He has given us, then He gives us more. We must not covet. We must show God that we appreciate what He has already given us. But so that no one gets too upset, I’ll hand out the candy bars at the end of the class. I only wanted to use this situation to show you how easy it is to show a lack of appreciation.