THINK TOGETHER
What do you love to look at? Have you ever seen something so amazing you couldn’t stop looking at it?
READ TOGETHER
As human beings God has given us an amazing gift – the gift of being able to see things. But even greater than the gift of sight is the gift of thought and imagination. We can see things with our eyes, and even if we can’t see with our eyes, we can see with our mind. We can imagine things in our heads. And we can think about those things. We can even worship those things.
Have you ever seen something so awesome and cool that you just wanted to watch it over and over? Have you ever seen someone do something and then you imagined that you could do it too one day?
The Bible says that this is how we change and grow as people. We see things and we think about things, and then we imagine ourselves to be like what we see and think about. The Bible calls this worship or beholding. Listen to how the Apostle Paul explains it to the Corinthians:
2 Corinthians 3:18. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
As you grow up you will most likely have people tell you that they way to be a “good Christian” is to do or not do a list of certain behaviors.
“Good Christians pray every day.”
“Good Christians don’t say bad words.”
“Good Christian boys and girls always obey their parents.”
But first, the Bible never talks about “good” or “bad” Christians. Why? Because we aren’t judged by how good or bad we are anymore. We are saved simply by God’s grace through Jesus. Jesus is the only good Christian who ever live, and we simply trust him.
And second, the life of a Christian isn’t about first trying to be good and not be bad. The life of a Christian is about first worshiping or beholding Jesus. To behold means to look at. But remember what we already said – we behold not only with our eyes, but with our minds and hearts. With our imaginations. We worship Jesus by thinking about what he did for us on the cross, and then trusting what he did for us instead of trusting in how good we are, or how bad we aren’t.
And when we learn to worship Jesus this way we WILL be changed. Paul says we will be transformed – like a caterpillar into a butterfly.
But here’s the tricky part – we don’t become like Jesus by trying to become like Jesus. We become like Jesus by worshiping Jesus. By thinking about how great and awesome he is. By trusting his love for us. By knowing that he is always for us no matter what.
When we believe in Jesus and his love THEN we will become like Jesus and his love. We will want to be like him and we will know he loves us even when we fail. That’s how we change. Not by trying harder, but by trusting more.
Because of Jesus we don’t have to try to be good, we can trust that Jesus was good in our place.
With Jesus we can be good as we trust in him more and more.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Talk about how you can behold the glory of Jesus as a family? What does this mean? How can you spend time simply thinking about and trusting what Jesus has done for you?
One way is through good songs about Jesus. Here’s one:
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus
I want to behold and worship you more and more. Help me to think about what you did for me on the cross and trust that you love me no matter what.
Amen.
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