Boy, am I happy to see Wednesday this week! I’ll tell ya… It’s just good to know that His Word is always there and that it’s so powerful. Even His name is powerful. I’m studying the names of Jesus for Advent, just like I do every year. And every year it’s something new and amazing! But that’s a blog for another time.
This week we take a look at the tiny book of II John. If you’ve wanted to join in the conversation, this is a great week for it, because you can read II John in under five minutes. Peek at those verses and see what speaks to you, then visit us in the comments!
II John 6b (NIV)–It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us.
This is one of those more personal applications. I was a teacher for seven years before our daughter was born and I took some time off. This year, I stepped back into the classroom again and, I have to say, I’m lovin’ it!
But here’s the thing about teaching in Christian school. You see some kids rise… and some kids fall. The advent of email and Facebook has allowed me to reconnect with some of my former students. It always amazes me what they are doing now. And it always amazes me how much they’ve changed.
See, I’ve had my heart broken a few times. I taught kids ten or twelve years ago who seemed like they were anchored to the top of God’s mountain, whose faith I actually envied. A few of them have fallen hard, and I’ve seen what the world can do to even the strongest of people. That hurts in a way words can’t describe. But I remember my own ups and downs, and there’s that knowledge that God is in them, they’ve been trained up right, and with prayer they’ll find their way home again.
Then there are those… the ones who tested and tried and pushed and shoved and fought and steadfastly refused to accept Christ. The ones who made me (and other teachers) shed tears and pound on heaven’s doors only to see them graduate with that same defiance. Then… they show up on Facebook and everything has changed. Their hearts are so full and their lives are so changed… You have to wonder if they’re the same kid or an identical twin with the same name. I love those moments. They literally thrill me.
The point, I guess, is this. Never give up on the ones you love. And never take them for granted either. Even the strongest need prayer. It’s easy to pray for the weak among us, but that’s why pastors fall, because they’re flock forgot to pray for them. We are called to pray.
That’s what changes things. And that’s what allows us to find our “children” walking in the truth.
-JB
Dawn Lucowitz says
I love that you pointed out last week that John is all about love. I think that this time of year it is especially important to remember that and look at how we love and show love.
My church recently had a sermon about giving and tithing was discussed briefly. There was a short video and the man in it was saying how his wife was in charge of the checkbook and he knows that he has given away far more money than many people ever make, and he was giving his 10% +, but wasn’t even knowing it or feeling it. He was making enough money and had been accustomed to giving in that way that it was almost just automatic. He came to the realization that just giving, without the right heart wasn’t enough. He mentioned that he wasn’t being changed from his giving at all. He wasn’t necessarily giving out of love, but just because that is what you do. He was thankful for the many blessings he had, but finally understood that tithing was more than just giving away money. It was an act of obedience that ultimately was going to be working in and changing his heart. Tithing wasn’t just for those that would receive, but for the ones giving as well.
I know this book isn’t about giving and tithing, but about love. Verse 6 – And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands as you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
This time of year people are going crazy buying gifts…waiting in lines at insane times in the morning (with pepper spray) so they can get the best deal on the hottest new toy. The entire reason for this season is so lost. It isn’t that giving gifts is wrong, but the reason, the intent, and the love behind it is so much more important.
It is also so sad that the last week of November, so many people commented on facebook about the salvation army bell ringers. I hear so many people with such negative thoughts and things to say. Even if we gave $1 to every bell ringer we passed over the month, what are we talking about, maybe $50? I know that for many people that is such a stretch, but really, for most of us in this country, that is almost laughable.
I guess my thoughts this week are kind of all over the place, and not necessarily about this book, but books and discussions of love kind of get my brain working on overdrive I guess.
Jodie says
I know that you mean, even about the tithing thing. It is easy to make it automatic. And about the holidays… I don’t know if I am getting older (and maybe a little cynical?), but it seems like commercialization and losing the real reason is getting worse in the world. It’s hard to fight the tide, isn’t it? I’m sensing a theme…