This article used with permission from Youth Specialties Real World Parent Series

One of the challenges of parenting for Christians is that we want our kids to be as excited about God’s unbelievable grace and forgiveness as we are—but we still want them to perform. We pray they’ll be absolutely convinced that their place in God’s family (and ours) is not conditional on how well they follow Christ or obey us, but we still stress repeatedly and doggedly that their best option is to follow and obey.

Paul could relate. We’re pulling our talking point for this week from the very beginning of his letter to the Christians and the church in Corinth. It’s a letter that spells out in explicit detail everything they’re doing wrong as individuals and as a group in how they are “doing church.” He uses some harsh-sounding words to reveal their selfish, selfish hearts. He derides them for misunderstanding God’s grace to mean they should have the right do whatever feels good all the time.

But Paul begins his letter to these sinners by expressing his deep assurance that the Corinthians Christians were sanctified receivers of God’s grace enriched with the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts. He states unequivocally—before dismantling their wrongdoings—that God will keep them strong to the end so that they will be blameless on the day of the Lord. He wanted them to choose to do right not to earn God’s love but because they already had it and were empowered to imitate it in serving Him and each other.

We encourage you to read these first nine verses, maybe with your child, and to use the opportunity this week to emphasize God’s endless, perfect grace for His flawed, selfish children. And since we’re just weeks away from Christmas, it will be easy to point to that event as evidence of God’s grace and love in spite of all of our selfish sinfulness.

Talking Points

• Why do you think God loves anyone?
• Is there anyone that God does not love?
• What can we do to make God love us—or love us more? [Parent: Emphasize that we cannot do anything to earn God’s love or increase it.]
• What can we do to make God love us less? [Parent: Again, emphasize that God loves us because that’s who He is, not because we deserve it. Just as we can’t earn His love, those of us who are in Christ—saved by trusting in Jesus alone—cannot do anything to lose God’s love.]
• If Christians are fully loved and accepted by God no matter what, why should we care whether we obey and follow Him or not? [Parent: Good luck! No, actually, it is helpful to emphasize that with His love, God also gives His children the power to live like Jesus. Why would we reject that opportunity to love God and others as Jesus did?]
• In 1 Corinthians, Paul explains to a group of Christians many of the ways they are being selfish toward God and each other, even though they are unconditionally loved and accepted by God. But before He starts, He explains to them that they are already “sanctified in Christ Jesus.” How would you explain the word “sanctified”? [Parent: It means that Christian have been set apart as people who are for God alone.]
• Paul also writes that they were given grace as a gift from God. How would you describe God’s grace? [Parent: Grace is God giving us all the treasures of His love and heaven even though we do NOT deserve it. Emphasize that nobody can earn grace.]
• Why do you think so many people get confused about the idea that going to heaven and being loved by God depends on what we do, not on what God did for us?
• How is Christmas evidence of Gods’ grace to us?
• Paul wrote to these Christians—people who were not doing very well at following Jesus—that God would keep them strong to the end so they would be blameless then. Do you believe that as a Christian you will be blameless when you stand before God? Why or why not?
• What makes us blameless? [Parent: Emphasize that we are only made blameless because Jesus took all of our blame when He was punished and died on the cross; we can’t work our way to being blameless.]
• Have you noticed any ways that God has started to give you His power or make you stronger in Christ? [Parent: Emphasize that growing strong in God can take time but includes things like using our spiritual gifts, resisting temptation, and loving and serving others without being selfish.]
• Do you believe that God will finish making you strong like Jesus, that He will finish what He has started in you? [Parent: Emphasize that God’s grace for everyone who has genuinely trusted in Jesus for salvation means that He absolutely will finish what He has started in us.]
• Will God finish what He started in us because we’ll finally get our act together and start working at being like Jesus—or because He is faithful? [Parent: Think about reading 1 Corinthians 1:9 to help provide a final answer to this question.]

Why Pray Out Loud?
“So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.’ ” (John 11:41-42)

Why do we pray out loud? After all, it makes some of us really uncomfortable to pray in front of each other. And it makes others of us really bored to listen to each other pray. Why do it? Isn’t God famous for knowing our thoughts, and aren’t we famous for believing that He hears our thoughts?

I think Jesus reveals one of the benefits of praying out loud in front of each other in today’s verses. He says clearly that His vocalized prayer of thanks was for the benefit of those listening. He wanted to leave no room for doubt that the giant miracle they were about to witness came from the God of the universe — that He was God’s Son.

In a similar way, when I ask God for help with something right out loud in front of you, you’re much more likely to give God the credit when that good thing happens. Vocalizing our prayers and thanksgiving in front of each other is another way to remind each other how huge and powerful our God really is.

Think: Are you hesitant to pray in front of other people? Do you know why? What can you do to start to overcome that timidity?

Pray: Thank God that He doesn’t need you to pray out loud in order to hear your prayers, and ask Him to help you to become comfortable talking to Him in front of others sometimes for their benefit and His glory.

Do: Make a point to pray out loud with at least one other person this week. (It can even be your mom!)

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A Daily Devotional from PlanetWisdom.com, copyright 2009 Youth Specialties/Zondervan. Used by permission.

Forgive as Forgiven

“Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Colossians 3:13

Do you think of yourself as a forgiven person? I’m not asking if you believe God has forgiven all of your sins. I know you believe that if you’re a Christian. I mean, do you tend to think of yourself as someone who has been forgiven for great and terrible sin?

I’m asking because those of us who became Christians as kids — and never got around to rebelling in any obvious, public way by trying out some of the “big sins” — we can have a hard time really thinking of ourselves as sinners. What have we done that’s so wrong, after all?

That thinking is a problem. Every sin is an offense against the character of our Father, reason enough for us to go to hell, and for Jesus to die on the cross. Our pride is no better than sexual immorality, fits of rage, or public drunkenness.

Here’s the other problem: If you don’t think of yourself as a forgiven person, it’s much harder to forgive others. And when you do, you think of it as a big favor instead of seeing it as the least and most obvious thing you could do as someone who has been forgiven for a stinking, seething mountain of ugly sin.

Think: On a scale from 1 to 10, how often are you aware that God has forgiven you for great sins you were helpless to pay for yourself? How hard is it for you to forgive others? Do you see a connection between those two things?

Pray: Ask God to help you to bear with others and forgive everyone just as God has forgiven you.

Do: Read Matthew 18:21-35 to hear a story Jesus told about a guy who refused to forgive a small debt after he’d been forgiven for a big one.

A Daily Devotional from PlanetWisdom.com, copyright 2009 Youth Specialties/Zondervan. Used by permission.

If you’ve spent any time on the 3rd floor when I’ve led prayers, I have probably mentioned that we pray for the people who are nameless & faceless in our world. Admittedly, many times I am thinking of people overseas and in foreign lands that experience hardship that we are cannot fathom. Increasingly though we mention our own ‘invisible’ people who live right here in our midst.

So it isn’t hard to imagine that I am completely compelled to find this video collection of interviews with people who are homeless. (Note: I haven’t seen all the videos, so there might be some choice language in a few. As of now I haven’t found any.)

Drew from InvisiblePeople.tv on Vimeo.

Mark 12:30-32 (NIV) : Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Luke 10: 25-37 (NIV) : On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

He answered: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins[e] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

His Love is Stronger

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)

Are you a list-maker? Do you love to itemize and bullet-point your way through homework assignments, top tens, and potential dates? The apostle Paul was a serious list-maker; you can see it all the way through his writing in the New Testament. And today’s two verses might be my favorite of all his lists. (It would, at least, make the top three.)

Even better: His list is the Word of God. It is absolutely and unalterably true. These are, in fact, the things which canNOT separate us from the love of God that we experience through Jesus. The list could almost be summed up as “everything in all the universes combined.”

Bottom line: There is nothing left for us to be afraid of. There is nothing left to worry about stealing us away from God’s forever love for us. Nothing spiritual. Nothing physical. Nothing inside of us. Nothing outside of us. Nothing bigger. Nothing smaller. Nothing now. Nothing then.

God’s love for us is stronger than all of it. As people in Christ, we will not ever be unloved, rejected, unwelcome, or turned away. He is now and will always be our Father.

Think: If you’ve ever worried that your salvation was not secure, that God’s love for you could be lost, what did you think might somehow steal it away? Is that thing covered by Paul’s list?

Pray: Thank God that nothing will ever separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.

Do: Write today’s verse as a list wherever you normally write lists and find a way to look it over a few times during the next week.

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A Daily Devotional from PlanetWisdom.com, copyright 2009 Youth Specialties/Zondervan. Used by permission.