Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Colossians 3:12
Everyone remembers the child that was always alone on the playground, shuffling through the dirt in the shade of a tree or sitting solitary on a swing while everyone else played kickball.
Some of us were that child. Some of us were the child that teased her and made others laugh at her. Some of us were the child that invited her to sit at our lunch table even though we’d be mocked. And some of us have been all three of those at different times.
What you were on the playground matters very little compared to what you are today in Christ, and in Him we are all equipped to teach and show our children the joy that comes when they choose to extend a hand of friendship like Jesus did.
Dear LORD, may my children be clothed in the compassion and kindness of Christ in all of their interactions with their peers. Help them understand the transformative power of friendship rooted in the love of Christ. Make the kind of friendship demonstrated by Jesus (like to Zacchaeus in Luke 19 and the woman caught in adultery in John 8) their model and ambition. Give them a heart like His, to be a friend to the friendless and reach out to the outcast. Release great joy in their hearts as they practice remembering the forgotten, including the excluded and loving the unloved. In Jesus’ name, amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment