Master Teacher Option: Belief Leads to Action

(10 minutes, easy set-up)
Students will consider the relationship between belief and action.

Recruit two volunteers from your group (volunteers should be smaller than you). Send one volunteer out of the room for a few minutes. Instruct the remaining volunteer to stand upright, facing the wall, with their feet touching the wall. Ask: Do you believe that I have the strength and ability to catch you if you fall backwards? When the student answers, “Yes,” then ask: Do you trust me to catch you? When the student again says, “Yes,” instruct the volunteer to close his or her eyes and fall backwards keeping completely stiff as he or she falls. Catch the student, but let them fall to about a 45 degree angle first. (Most people at this angle will start to bend their knees and put their hands down to cushion their fall rather than keeping straight as requested.) Call the other student in and repeat the activity.

After you’ve repeated the process with the second volunteer, lead students to discuss:

Are belief and faith the same thing? Why or why not?
How did the volunteers reactions while falling demonstrate the difference between belief and trust?
What is trust?
Why is our faith or trust is something often proven by our actions?

Explain that students will examine today’s lesson to see how Caleb’s faith in God differed from the rest of the Israelites’ faith in God.