Begin today’s lesson by offering up the following scenario to your class.

It’s your birthday, and in a burst of generosity, one of your relatives gives you $500 cash. What do you do with it?

• Do you spend the money right away? On what? (Maybe some ultra-hyped clothing like Balenciaga Knit High-Top sneakers or a Supreme x Northface Trans Antarctica Pullover. Or, maybe a new smartphone or game system.)
• What if you decide to resist the temptation to blow all of your newfound wealth in one go and decide instead to invest it? At 10% interest and monthly compounding, twenty years later that $500 would be worth $3,664. Is it worth it? (Allow your students to respond and discuss this question in their own words.)

In theory, waiting the extra two decades and having seven times the amount of money is certainly the wise decision; however, as human beings, we are terrible at resisting momentary temptation even at the expense of our own well-being.

• Let’s go back to the original question and consider this: What if you had the wisdom 20 years ago to invest that $500 in the (at that time unknown) company called Apple. How much do you think that money would be worth now? (In 1997, Apple’s stock was $0.56 per share meaning that an investment of $500 would now be worth $142,857.14.)

The Apple investors could’ve been aided by being able to predict what was going to happen in the future. After all, there are currently 2,800 companies trading on the New York Stock Exchange and picking which penny stock is going to grow into a multi-million-dollar corporation is nearly impossible.

Happily, there is Someone on our side who knows the right path for every crossroad we face. Today, we’ll learn about how God can help us resist temptation and choose wisdom.