Math Drill

He has showed you, O man, what is good.
       And what does the LORD require of you?
       To act justly and to love mercy
       and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8

Props: professor costume, white board or poster board and markers, tripod

 Begin with a skit in which a wacky professor enters and begins energetically teaching new math skills to a group of young students.  He is trying to explain complicated formulas, etc.  Several students try to raise their hand and get the professor’s attention, but the professor insists that there is no time for that; the formulas are too detailed and he cannot be interrupted with silly questions.  Finally, when he is done with the first formula (and out of breath and chalkboard space), he calls on a student to answer his question.  The student explains that he and the rest of the class do not even know how to add, much less follow complicated formulas.  The Professor is quite flustered and says he is going in search of another, more prepared, group of students. 

 Teacher follow-up:  The students in the skit didn’t need a bunch of complicated math formulas; they needed the basics!  The basics are the most important, because if you don’t know how to add and subtract, you won’t be able to learn the harder math.  And even when you do learn the more difficult steps, you still can’t forget the basics.  I remember people in math classes in school who knew all the very hard math, but sometimes forgot to add a simple number at the end, so they got the whole problem wrong.  Everything builds on the basics!

     The same is true with living for God.  Some people memorize lots of scriptures, but never obey the Bible.  Others might spend lots of time and money trying to think of a way to help people around the world, but they do not even help their own neighbor.  Still others might spend their whole life studying the family histories of the Bible, but they never pray for their own family.             

     In the end, it all comes down to the basics: do you love and obey God and do you love others?  There’s no skipping the basics.  They are the foundation of our relationship with God.  So don’t lose sight of the basics.  Keep your eyes on God and your heart close to him.