Needed: Common Valentines gifts or pictures of common Valentines gifts (cards, chocolates, heart candies, flowers, etc.)
Ask students, Who knows what holiday is coming up this week?
That’s right! It’s Valentine’ Day! Are your classes doing anything special to celebrate Valentine’s Day?
Who can tell me some special gifts that people give each other on Valentine’s Day? (Show your gifts as children name them, or use them to suggest gift ideas the children haven’t thought of yet.)
Why do you think people give these kinds of gifts to each other? What is Valentine’s Day supposed to be all about?
Valentine’s Day is about celebrating love. Valentine was a pastor a long time ago who knew that God created love and so he helped people to get married.
But Valentines Day doesn’t have to just be about celebrating romantic love. We can celebrate love between all of our family or the love that we have for our friends.
God created all forms of love. In fact, the Bible tells us that God is love.
(Read, or have a student read, 1 John 4:16.)
That verse tells us that God is love and that if we want to live in God, or be like God and have a relationship with Him, then we have to love too.
What do you think it means for God to be love?
It means that God is the source of love. He made love, and everything He does is done out of love. Who can tell me some things God has done to show His love to us?
God made us. He gives us everything we need in life. He gave us the Bible to teach us about Him and the right things He wants us to do. He listens to us when we pray. He even sent His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for us and take the punishment for all the wrong things we do so that we can be forgiven and go to Heaven some day.
That’s a lot of ways God has shown His love to us, isn’t it? And God said that He wants us to love too. What are some ways we can show our love to God?
We can believe in Him. We can follow Him and try to do the things that make Him happy. We can read our Bibles and pray and go to church and talk about Him with other people.
One of the ways we can show our love to God is by showing love to other people. God made and loves everyone, and He likes it when we treat everyone well. What do you think are some ways you can show love to other people? Let’s start with your parents. What are some ways you can show love to your parents?
You can tell them you love them. You can do nice things for them. You can listen when they tell you to do something.
What about your brothers and sisters? How can you show love to them?
You can try not to fight with them. You can play and talk nicely together.
What about your friends? How can you show love to your friends?
You can share with them. You can say nice things to them. You can do the things they want to do when you’re playing together.
Those are all good ways to show love to God and to other people. Let’s remember this Valentine’s Day that God is love, that He made love, and that He wants us to love.
Let’s pray about that.
Sample prayer: Father God, love is a great gift that You have given to us. We thank You for loving us and for giving us people in our lives who love us. We pray that You will help us to love and to love others even better than we have before. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.