Jesus’ followers witnessed so many amazing things while He walked the earth with them. They saw Jesus perform miracles and they heard Him teach a whole new way of thinking. Through it all, God was preparing them to carry Jesus’ ministry into the world. He was teaching them the basics:
Wisdom – I need to make the wise choice.
Faith – I can trust God no matter what.
Friendship – I should treat others the way I want to be treated.
When we focus on these ideas, we can also begin to discover what God is doing in us to change the world around us. We’ll learn from Jesus’ teachings that we, too, can make a difference.
The monthlymemory verse is: “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill can’t be hidden,” Matthew 5:14, NIrV. When we choose to love God by loving others, you will help God’s love shine on all people.
In Week One’s Bible story, Jesus loves and forgives Peter for denying Him (John 18-21). Our Bottom Line is: God is doing something in me so I will love the people around me. When we love the way Jesus loves us, we forgive when others wrong us, we serve and help meet others’ needs, and we sacrifice what we want for what’s best for others.
In Week Two’s biblical principle, Jesus is teaching the people how to be kind to others, even people who mistreat you (Matthew 5:41-41). In Jesus’ time, the Roman guards could force people to carry their belongings for a mile. But Jesus taught that, to show God’s kindness to the guards, the people should go an extra mile. Our Bottom Line is:God is doing something in me so I will love people who are hard to love.
In Week Three’s Bible story, Jesus commands His followers to go into all the world and tell about God’s love (Matthew 28:16-20). Our Bottom Line is: God is doing something in me to show the world who He is. Each of Jesus’ followers had a story of when God had shown them love, and they were able to share that story with other people.
In Week Four’s Bible story, Jesus commanded that we should love God with all our hearts and love others as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:34-40). Our Bottom Line is:God is doing something in you to change the world around you. Often, one of the best ways we can love God is by loving His people. Regardless of who the person is or what they’ve done, God still loves them, and we can too.
If you would like to use this article in communication with parents and leaders in your church, feel free, so long as you (1) make no changes to the article, and (2) include the following credit line with the article: By Jessica McKee ©2013 The reThink Group. All rights reserved. www.ThinkOrange.com *Used by permission.