Sunday the lesson was about being like Jesus....pressing on even when it’s difficult...reaching the goal. I said things like “...even when it gets difficult....” or something like, “...means that sometimes we won’t be like the people around us...” and I know I said, “I won’t promise you it will be easy. In fact I know it’s not...”
As parents I want to remind us to remind our kids that it really isn’t easy. I think many times we expect our kids to get it right the first time. We don’t like when we have to remind them of things over and over. “You should know better...” are words we’ve uttered. Right. They do know better, but what I felt convicted of in this lesson was having more GRACE for our children. We expect that grace when we mess up, but I don’t think we always extend that to our kids.
Maybe not all of you do this so I’ll just talk about me here. It made me think on how I deal with my own child when she misses the wrong key on piano over and over on a new song and she gets frustrated. My response? Something like, “You can’t expect to get it perfect the first time you sit down to play it. It takes lots of practice. You’ll get it, just keep trying.” So how come I don’t have as much gentle grace when she messes up in other areas...areas such as trying to “be like Jesus?” I go straight into “correction mode” and it’s usually not as gentle as the piano mode I just mentioned. I usually don’t respond with much grace when she doesn’t obey the first time every time. Of course I don’t mean they don’t have to obey or they should be allowed to be disrespectful...still do your job of parenting and correcting, but find the balance of extending grace and love when they DO mess up.
So parents, I extend a challenge to you as you encourage your children of their challenge to be like Jesus. Be like Him in your parenting by encouraging them when they mess up to keep trying, keep working toward the goal. Find the balance of being firm with correction but also extending gentle grace - knowing we all mess it up.
Breakdown...
Things to ask...
Ideas to do...
One thing we can see in Acts about early christians is that nothing was going to stop them from proclaiming Jesus, nothing was going to stop them from following his mission. What are your goals? What drives you? Are you pressing on? What do your kids see from you? What goals do they see you trying to reach? What do they see that drives you?
As parents I want to remind us to remind our kids that it really isn’t easy. I think many times we expect our kids to get it right the first time. We don’t like when we have to remind them of things over and over. “You should know better...” are words we’ve uttered. Right. They do know better, but what I felt convicted of in this lesson was having more GRACE for our children. We expect that grace when we mess up, but I don’t think we always extend that to our kids.
Maybe not all of you do this so I’ll just talk about me here. It made me think on how I deal with my own child when she misses the wrong key on piano over and over on a new song and she gets frustrated. My response? Something like, “You can’t expect to get it perfect the first time you sit down to play it. It takes lots of practice. You’ll get it, just keep trying.” So how come I don’t have as much gentle grace when she messes up in other areas...areas such as trying to “be like Jesus?” I go straight into “correction mode” and it’s usually not as gentle as the piano mode I just mentioned. I usually don’t respond with much grace when she doesn’t obey the first time every time. Of course I don’t mean they don’t have to obey or they should be allowed to be disrespectful...still do your job of parenting and correcting, but find the balance of extending grace and love when they DO mess up.
So parents, I extend a challenge to you as you encourage your children of their challenge to be like Jesus. Be like Him in your parenting by encouraging them when they mess up to keep trying, keep working toward the goal. Find the balance of being firm with correction but also extending gentle grace - knowing we all mess it up.
Breakdown...
- THEME: Our goal is to be like Jesus.
- BIBLE VERSE: "Work willingly at whatever you do, as if working for the Lord rather than people." Colossians 3:23
- PASSAGE: Acts 16:16-34; Philippians 3:12-21
- CHALLENGE: Be like Jesus! Keep working toward the goal!
Things to ask...
- What's easy and what's difficult about being like Jesus?
- How can you be like Jesus this week?
Ideas to do...
- Be like Jesus by showing kindness to people even when it's difficult. For example, you could do something nice for someone you have a hard time getting along with.
- You could serve someone this week...make someone a snack, do someone's chores.
- As a family, point out ways you see each other being like Jesus.
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