JOIN THE JOURNEY JR.
Families Abiding in Jesus together
With shorter reading assignments and kid-specific focus areas, Join The Journey Jr. is designed to help parents disciple their kids and engage with Scripture in the best ways for their age.
This month's memory verse
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
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Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.
The Death of Herod Agrippa
20Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they sent a delegation to make peace with him because their cities were dependent upon Herod’s country for food. The delegates won the support of Blastus, Herod’s personal assistant, 21and an appointment with Herod was granted. When the day arrived, Herod put on his royal robes, sat on his throne, and made a speech to them. 22The people gave him a great ovation, shouting, “It’s the voice of a god, not of a man!”
23Instantly, an angel of the Lord struck Herod with a sickness, because he accepted the people’s worship instead of giving the glory to God. So he was consumed with worms and died.
24Meanwhile, the word of God continued to spread, and there were many new believers.
25When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission to Jerusalem, they returned,* taking John Mark with them.
Supplies: strips of paper, pens, bowl
Instructions:
God created us with lots of different talents, gifts, and abilities. Some of us are great at sports, while others of us are better at music or art. It can be really fun to explore the things we are naturally good at—especially when it allows us to be on a team or perform in front of others.
A temptation we face when we’re good at something is to be prideful. Pride is when we think we’re more important than God or other people—or think we don’t need God because of our own abilities.
In today’s passage, we read about a man who faced pride. Read Acts 12:20-25.
Herod was a great speaker—impressing the people with the words he said and how he said it. But something happened. What was the reaction of the people to Herod’s speech in Acts 12:22? The people began to think that he was god! The problem wasn’t that Herod was good at speaking or leading his kingdom. The problem was that he didn’t give God the glory for what he was able to do. He didn’t recognize that God gave him those gifts and talents.
We also can be tempted to be prideful. If we are good at sports, we might think we are better than everyone else. If we are good at music, we might want the attention to be on us all the time and not recognize anyone else’s gift. The truth is that we are only talented at these things because God made us that way! Our gifts and talents should always point people to who God is as our creator.
Humility is seeing yourself the way God sees you—not thinking too highly of yourself, and not thinking too lowly either. It means trusting God more than you trust yourself. Humility is the opposite of pride.
So how do we practice humility?
Take some time today to explore people in the Bible who demonstrated humility. Write down what they could have been prideful in and how they showed humility instead.
Discuss the following questions: