THINK TOGETHER.
Are you a tattle-tale? Do you know any tattle-tales?
READ TOGETHER.
Matthew 18:15. If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.
This verse begins with these words: If your brother sins against you.
First of all, we need to know that the word brother here does not mean only your biological brother or sibling. It means any other Christian, boy or girl. Are you a Christian? If you are then you have brothers and sisters in Jesus.
Second of all, the word sins here means something that is meant to harm you or make you mess up. This verse is not about mistakes or accidents that happen. It’s about intentional meanness and offensiveness, aimed at making you sin too.
For example, let’s say a classmate asks you to let them copy your homework or cheat off your paper. Or maybe a friend is teasing you so much that it makes you get angry. In these situations, someone is doing what Jesus calls sinning against you. Can you think of other examples of this sort of situation?
So what should we do when someone sins against us? Jesus tells us to go and talk to them alone. This is a big part of growing up – being able to handle the problems that you have with others, without having to tell on them. I remember when my friend Andy would ask to copy my homework answers in school. He wanted me to let him cheat off of my answers. I didn’t go and tell the teacher. I told Andy that he needed to do the homework himself so that he could learn how to do it. He never asked to copy my homework again and we stayed friends too.
Now, things might not always go as smoothly as they did for me that day when I went to Andy alone and asked him to stop asking me to cheat. That’s why Jesus also said that sometimes we have to go to someone who in authority, someone in charge, who can help – like your parents, teachers, or a pastor.
When we love others we should never just want them to get in trouble. We should want them to do better. And if you can get them to do better without getting them in trouble that’s great! But if you can’t, if they won’t stop sinning or causing others to sin, then maybe they need to get in trouble in order to get better. If you’re not sure, talk to mom and dad about it.
And you can always talk to Jesus about it. He will help you know what to do and what to say.
Because of Jesus the other Christians around me are my brothers and sisters in Jesus.
With Jesus we can try to help others to stop sinning and causing others to sin.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Talk through some real-life scenarios together. Help your child to know when they can handle things themselves and when they might need adult help.
PRAY TOGETHER
Father, thank you for always letting me know when I am sinning. And when others are sinning against me, help me to know how to help them stop. Amen.
TLICfamily 