In Other Words.... (Senior Edition)

(This is the fifth and final installment of an entry from last week.) In our study of the parables, my class of senior boys took a one period detour and looked at love from 1st Corinthians 13. So much of Jesus' teaching 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 what these young men said:

"If I tell my father I love him and then go and do something he told me not to do, my words are a waste of breath."  Garrett

"If I say I am a changed man but go back to my old ways, I am exactly the same."  Nicholas

"If I donate money but only because I want my name on a building, I am not the cheerful giver God wants me to be."  Cody

"If I stay after practice to clean the locker room but only to get on the good side of the coaches, I might as well have gone straight home."  Ian

"If I am nice to a girl just to make another jealous, I should talk to neither."  Bryant

" If I act one way around my family and another way outside my family, I should just be known for being a deceiver."  Tobe

"If I ask for forgiveness but plan to make the same decision again, I should not have asked for forgiveness."  Gerran

"If I go to church but fall asleep, I should have just stayed in bed."  Louis

"If I take what I have for granted, I might as well have nothing."  Keegan

"If I make a promise to a girl and know that I won't be able to keep it, I should have kept my mouth shut."  Francisco

"If I cannot forgive people for what they did against me, then God should not forgive me."  Johnavon

"If I avoid the principal so I won't have to shave, I should just go ahead and shave."  Marcus

"If I like a girl but don't have the courage to ask her out, I should not like her at all."  Tyler

"If I say I love my parents but I never say those words to them, I have no love."  Chengyao

"If I give a compliment just to manipulate a person, I should not have complimented them at all."  Joey

"If I want to go to college just to get away from home, I don't deserve a home."  Hasani

"If I am baptized but go out with my friends on the weekends and act wild, I should not have been baptized."  Anthony C.

"If I break up with a girl just because of her imperfections, I might as well go home and look in the mirror."  Aaron

"If I pray only for God to take care of my needs, then I have just wasted God's time."  Richard

"If I say, 'I love you' to my girlfriend but feel ashamed to be with her, I should let her find someone better than me."  Elson

"If I volunteer to feed the homeless but call them disgusting behind their backs, I should have stayed home."   Anthony S.

"If I take care of my sister but do it just to earn money, there is no love."  Christian

"If I go home but don't want to be there, I should just buy a tent."  Matthew

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