(This is the fourth and final installment of an entry from last week.) 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 have a girl and treat her badly, I might as well be single." Justin
"If I join Science Olympiad just to get a day off from school, I might as well stay home." An
"If I say I forgive someone but secretly hate them, then that is not forgiveness." Mary
"If I boast about my love, I have none." Alexander
"If I date a girl because of a bet and break up with her after the bet even though she really likes me, I might as well not gone out with her." Bruse
"If I pray in a corner hoping someone will see me, then I may as well not pray." Taylor E.
"If I love my slowly passing grandma and yet do not go visit her in the hospital, then I don't really love her." John
"If I go to college just to meet girls, I might as well go home because girls do not like stupid boys." Terrell
"If I say I love my friends and then continue to let them do wrong, I don't really love or care for them." Aeriel
"If I put 20 dollars in the collection plate at church to look generous in front of a girl, I might as well keep my money." Jacob
"If I tell my mom I'm grateful and then later pout when I don't get what I want, I'm not really grateful." Jada
God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
http://www.hawleybooks.com/
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks
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1 comment:
I can relate to all of those Coach Hawley. Good post Coach.
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