26 Oct, 2010
The Jesus Way
Do you ever feel like you read the Bible, and the words go out of your head as quickly as they came in?
Do you ever struggle to make God's word alive in your life, in your every day dilemmas, in your commonplace thoughts?
It's true that translating God's word in a way that makes sense is sometimes difficult. But engaging in the process is worth the work!
Last night, over sixty middle school guys and girls put their heads together to try and make one passage of scripture relevant for their life. Here's the results:
Philippians 2:1-4 (MSG)
1 If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care - 2 then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. 3 Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. 4 Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.
What does God's Story Scripture teach us about the Jesus Way?
This scripture from Paul's letter to the Philippians gives practical instructions for daily living. The Message (the bible version used here) is a modern day translation that takes these ancient words and translates them to easy to understand language.
But we took it one step further, and modernized the language even more. Consider these "translations" from students:
"Don't make assumptions about your classmates. Get to know them for who they are, not worrying about what others say."
"Be proactive in inviting others in, in the lunchroom or to join you in an empty seat, without regard to whether they are popular or not."
"When you know someone is having a bad day, make sure you go out of your way to ask them how you can help."
"Don't push yourself to the front in order to get attention. Let others go first."
"Put yourself aside long enough to consider someone else's feelings."
How can I connect today's story scripture to my life?
Like this group of middle schoolers did, you can modernize an already-modern version of this passage. Take these four verses and rewrite them to represent the "Jesus Way" in your school. What would you take into consideration? How would you say people should be treated? What would be specific ways that would work in the specific culture of your school?
How can I connect God's story scripture and my story to others?
Take your re-written passage to your group of friends, your small group, or your youth group. Ask them to add to it to represent the "Jesus Way" for your life. And then, the hard question:
How are you doing in the Jesus Way? What can you do differently tomorrow or this week to follow the instructions found in Philippians? Ask God to give you the strength, courage and compassion to reach out to others with love, just as Jesus did.
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