Friday: Further Thought – The Rhythms of Life
Further Thought:
Imagine the changes that occurred in the life of Christ’s disciples as they spent time with Him. They were mostly uneducated, simple people, accustomed to the teachings and traditions of their Jewish faith, but now they were being challenged by the Galilean Rabbi. They experienced jealousy (Matt. 20:20-24) and conflict (John 3:25); they seemed to lack faith (Mark 9:28-29), and they even abandoned (Matt. 26:56) and betrayed Jesus (Matt. 26:69-74). At the same time, they were growing spiritually so that people recognized Peter had been with Jesus (Matt. 26:73), and even the members of the Sanhedrin marveled when they perceived that Peter and John were “uneducated and untrained men”. “They realized that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13, NKJV).
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
Think, too, about the incredibly positive impact we could have in our families if we lived in such a way that when other members of our family see us, they know that we have “been with Jesus”.
What do these words from Ellen G. White have to say about influences in the home? “The home may be plain, but it can always be a place where cheerful words are spoken and kindly deeds are done, where courtesy and love are abiding guests”. – The Adventist Home, p. 18.
Discussion Questions:
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The cut and thrust of a Christian life is always challenging. It is not our lot in life to maintain the status quo. We have to participate in transition and change, grow in understanding and interact with people. There is no occasion for us to claim we have arrived. It is like the fish I used to see swimming in the river at the back of the farm. Only the dead fish went with the flow. All the live fish swam against the current.
We have had our vision of grandparenthood badly bent in the last few weeks. Our wonderful loving teenage grandson has hit puberty with a vengeance. Wow, what a transition. His voice dropped, he hates everyone, he gets into trouble at school, he doesn't want to do his homework, he deviously gets access to his electronic devices in the middle of the night. And we are the ones who have to look after him while he does his school homework in the afternoon! The only preparation we had for this transition was that we brought up his mother many years ago, when we were ill-prepared for the change. I suppose you could say that I am prepared now, but it is still a very big challenge.
There is little time for platitudes about the goodness of God or the work of the Holy Spirit. Our work is putting Christianity into practice in the challenge of transition and human relationships.
I have just glanced through the titles of the lessons for this quarter, and it looks like we are going to get some sound practical support for Christian living and managing relationships.
It is time to put that into practice!
Great translation, gives new understanding.
What is full name of version.
That one was from the Living Bible. It just happened to be the one that I chose this morning, almost at random. But I did like how the meaning came through too.
I heard this 84 y-o lady saying something on TV a few years ago that really caught my attention. The show was named "Go with faith". It is anchored by a famous artist who lost her 16-17 y-o son in a stupid accident (skateboard on a busy road).
At some point, everyone on the show is encouraged to answer "How do you described faith, what does faith mean to you?"
This 84 y-o lady, on a wheelchair since she was a kid, went through a lot of things in life, had a mother who was always telling her that she would never be able to get to college, to marry, to have kids, to be fully a woman, etc. And a father who always told her the opposite, that she could do anything!
Thus, at that age, she had completed college, gotten married, had sons and daughters, had founded a Company, was a business woman, but also at that age, had lost her husband, lost a son, founded a NPO to help people, etc...
Her answer to the question was "To me, faith is what you do with the things that happen to you! Faith is how you react amid the happy and sad moments! Faith is what you become from suffering!"
I will never forget what that lady said! Having a glimpse of what she had gone through in life and being able to answer that! What an example of christianity!
This entire lesson will be on "Where Christianity Meets (the road) Reality," and how we are to live among prickly characters as we deal with our flaws and shortcomings. The world will know we are Jesus' followers through our love for each other, not our praise or God-speak. Yes, platitudes will not do it in these lessons. May each of us experience deeper ties to our fellow man in the place of service and self sacrifice.