JUNIOR HIGH MINISTRY LESSON ON LAZINESS - Junior High Ministry

During the holiday season, the junior highers in your ministry can get a bit lazy.

I know this to be true because two of my kids are in junior high. Joey is an eighth grader and Emma is a 7th grader.

All last week during the Thanksgiving break, they just kind of existed in our house. Binge watching Netflix TV shows, playing video games, etc. They stayed up late and slept in every morning.

My guess is that my kids are probably similar to your students in this aspect.

The laziness of the holidays can have an effect on students’ spiritual lives. They can get lazy when it comes to their relationship with God.

Here’s a free lesson to help students make the shift from lazy tendencies to an attitude of bringing God honor in their everyday lives.

Enjoy the lesson.

– Nick Diliberto, Junior High Ministry

JUNIOR HIGH MINISTRY LESSON ON LAZINESS

Written by Tiffany Hollums

DOWNLOAD PDF OF THIS LESSON

Bible: Colossians 3:17; Proverbs 10:4; Proverbs 12:24; Proverbs 13:4; Proverbs 20:4; Proverbs 26:15

Bottom Line: Whatever you do, do it as if you are doing it for God.

SUPPLIES

Trash bags with a hole cut out for the head

Large tarp

Toothpaste and toothbrush

Deodorant

Lotion

Shaving cream and a spoon

A ‘lazy prize’ such as a grabber tool that older people use to pick up things – spray paint it gold make it funny.

OPENING GAME: LAZY FRIEND

Ask for 3 pairs of volunteers and instruct students to choose one person in each pair to be the ‘lazy one’.

Each of the ‘lazy ones’ will put on a trash bag with a hole cut for their head, but their hands have to stay inside the trash bag.

Next, have the 3 lazy students sit on a large tarp facing the rest of the group.

Say (to the people sitting on the tarp): We’re going to help you get ready for the day!

Your friend is going to stand behind you.

Say (to the people standing behind their friends) I will tell you what to do to get your lazy friend ready.

But wait… you will be blindfolded.

Blindfold each of the ‘non-lazy’ friends.

Ask for a volunteer to come and help hand each of the blindfolded friends the items as you call for them.

Say: Are you ready?

Let’s get ready for the day!

Good morning everyone!

It is time to wake up!

What is the first thing you do when you wake up?

Let the crowd answer, and if someone says ‘brush your teeth’ go with that!

Okay friends, we are going to brush our teeth.

So, friends help your lazy friend brush their teeth!

Be careful not to get the toothpaste in your eyes.

Now, let’s put that away and brush your friend’s hair.

Okay, we want to smell good for the day, so put on deodorant and lotion on your friend.

This might be a bit challenging because their arms are in the trash bag, but just put it on the outside.

And last, we are going to shave.

We have to be safe, so we will just shave with a spoon until you can get the idea.

(By this point, mass hysteria or chaos has probably broken out, so good luck!)

TEACH

We are going to have a contest to see who is the laziest person in this room.

In one sentence, tell us about the laziest 24 hours that you’ve ever had in your whole entire life.

Give the students a chance to share and then give the ‘Lazy’ Prize to the winner.

How many of you have had your parents tell you, or others accuse you, of being lazy?

Share a funny story of when you were extremely lazy.

What if I were to tell you that I am going to show a picture of each of your rooms and then we will vote on who is the laziest?

Give the students a chance to react and then give them a breath of relief to know that ‘no’, you don’t have photos of their rooms!

Adults like to joke about how lazy teenagers can be, but we all know adults who are just as lazy.

And believe it or not, the Bible has quite a bit to say about being lazy.

Divide the youth into 5 groups and give each group one of the following Proverbs to act out in a modern ‘play’.

Proverbs 10:4

Proverbs 12:24

Proverbs 13:4

Proverbs 20:4

Proverbs 26:15

Is being lazy a sin? Or is there a certain ‘level’ of being lazy that is ok?

Ask someone to read Colossians 3:17.

What do you think this verse says about being lazy?

There is a difference between resting and actually having ‘Sabbath’, or time with God, and being lazy.

How can you tell the difference?

Here is the key question to ask yourself when it comes to talking about being lazy: who are you thinking of?

Because the line between resting and just being lazy is that who is the lazy person thinking of?

Themselves.

When you are truly lazy, others have to do everything for you.

When you are lazy you don’t think about what your actions (or lack of actions) causes to others, or you just don’t care.

Do you know someone who is truly lazy? We aren’t going to share names, though!

How has their laziness affected their life?

So, on a scale of 1 to 10, how lazy are you?

Being lazy can cause all kinds of problems in your life and in the lives around you.

What are some of those problems?

Write down their answers.

Why do you think people are lazy?

The proverbs paint a picture of the lazy person: they don’t work.

They expect others to take care of them.

And yet, their actions don’t just affect them… they affect those around them.

But in the verse from Colossians, when you work to glorify God, it changes the way you live. How?

What would it look like to do your homework to glorify God?

Or clean your room?

One way to honestly see if you are lazy or not, is to ask yourself this question: how do I leave things?

When you leave a room, is it a mess?

When you go to bed at night, can you say that you have done your best?

Some of us need to feel some guilt right now because if we are honest with ourselves, what we leave behind are empty wrappers, chip bags, dirt, and unfinished homework.

The point of this lesson though is not to leave thinking about what a big bunch of slobs we are, but to challenge you to think about tomorrow in a new way.

What if tomorrow you did everything in a way that would glorify God?

Would it be possible to be lazy?

What would you do differently?

Who would be able to tell the difference?

Why not take this week as an experiment and instead of cutting corners or making excuses, let’s live each day for God.

Let’s do whatever we do to bring God glory.

Close in prayer.

SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS