In Other Words... (Encore)

This is a continuation of last night's entry. In our study of the Gospels, my sophomores and eighth graders took a one period detour and looked at love from 1st Corinthians 13. So much of the Gospels deals with the motives for our actions; Paul addresses the same issue at the beginning of his beautiful treatise: "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing." (verses 1-3) As I have done recently, I had my students put similar thoughts in their own vernacular, framing them with their own points of references. As they always do, they displayed a fascinating-and sometimes startling mature- grasp of life. Here is a sampling:

"If I say that I am a good person but I lie, sneak around, am mean, and don't do as I'm told, then who am I really?"  Julia

"If I stand up for  myself but not for Jesus, I should have sat down."  Cody

"If I say that I believe in Jesus but I do not do anything that He has said, I can't be a follower of Him."  Danielle

"If I pray but only for my own needs, I shouldn't pray at all."  Juliana

"If I act like a saint in church but act a fool everywhere else, I am a fool."  Evan

"If I pick up something another student has dropped just so a teacher will reward me, I should not have helped."  Laura

"If I open a door for a girl, not to be polite but because she's cute, I should not have opened it."  Brandon

"If I go to church only to see a guy I'm talking to and not to get right with God, I should not have gone."  Taylor S.

"If I love God but hate the people in His church, I might as well not call them my church family."  William

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
http://www.hawleybooks.com/
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com