Family Home Evening For 2 Corinthians 8-13

 Read or Summarize 2 Corinthians 9:6-7

6 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

Lesson

Often, we think that service is something big like cleaning someone else’s house, doing someone else’s yard work, visiting the elderly, or fixing someone's dinner. All of these things are great acts of service, but did you know that the dictionary defines service as “the action of helping or doing work for someone.”

The “someone” in this definition could be anyone. It could be as big as the whole world, your country, your state, your community, your neighborhood, or even as small as your house, your parents, your siblings, or your pets.

Think about it, if your mom or dad are busy, and you decide to serve them by cleaning the toys up in the family room. You just served them! The action you did was cleaning up. You helped your parents, because you did work for them. If you didn’t clean up, then they would have to do it themselves later.

If your little brother is crying and you ask him what is wrong and help him feel better, you just served your brother. The action you did was offering help and showing you cared, and the work you did was finding out a solution to the problem that made him sad.

The scriptures above teach us that God wants us to be a cheerful giver. If you complain, yell, or stomp your feet when you serve or are asked to serve, then you are not being a cheerful giver. One way that helps me to be a cheerful giver is I think of how surprised or happy I will make the person I am serving. I also think about how happy Heavenly Father is when I do nice things for His children.

Discuss 

What are some ways that you can change your thinking so that you can become a more cheerful giver?

Activity 

Think of some ways that you can serve. Think of one thing at each level of service, mentioned above (family members, home, neighborhood, community, area, and world),  and do them! As you do them, be cheerful in your service.

Watch

Click the video below to see how we did this lesson.