When Joel woke up today, I asked him to read Matthew 7:11-17 before he started playing. He read each one aloud, and after each, we discussed them briefly.
He got to the part about the kinds of fruit that trees bear.
"If someone is godly, they will do godly things," I said. "Do you know a godly person?"
"Yeh. Natalie," he said, naming a friend in second grade.
"Do you know someone you're not sure about, whether they love Jesus or not?"
"Yeh, __________," he said, mentioning an older boy in school. "One minute he obeys and the next minute he doesn't. He's up and down and up and down. I can't keep him in the middle!"
I guess if I hadn't been laughing so hard on the inside, I could have launched into a mini-lecture about how we cannot keep another person in the middle, nor should that be our goal. We ought to encourage others to always obey (be "up," according to Joel's vernacular) but when they don't, we should pray for them and encourage them to "get up.") Likewise we should always try to be "up" so that people can tell from our obedience that we love Jesus.
Don't you love how kids keep it simple?
1 comment:
Oh I want to be up and can be up only because of His love, mercy and grace to trust and obey!
And may He be kept "in the middle" and forefront of my heart, soul, mind and strength!
I do so appreciate your Joel!
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