Family Devotional Idea #1

Hey everyone.

I had this idea for a family devotional that I wanted to share with you.  I got the idea while I was reading Good Enough Parenting by John and Karen Louis.  It comes from Luke 18:9-14, which the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. 

We looked at this passage recently in a family devotion that I called Acting 101.  We took turns acting out the two parts and trying to deliver the lines in the way that we thought each man may have said them.  First, we took turns acting our the Pharisees prayer.  Then we talked about his motivation, and what the prayer showed about the man and his heart.  After that we took turns trying to present the Tax Collector and say his one line, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner," with heartfelt emotion.  I even beat my chest in anguish just like the tax collector in the story.  (But even with all my heartfelt sincerity, Wendy and the boys laughed my over-the-top acting.) We also talked about his motivation and what his prayer said about him.  Then we had a good conversation comparing the two men.  We decided that the tax collector was humble, while that pharisee was full of pride.  Then we compared the qualities of humility and pride.  We then talked about how pride and humility can manifest itself in our behavior.  It was a really good conversation.  Together we were able to determine some things: 

• Wendy is the best actor in the family.     
• Aaron always speaks with a British accent when he is acting.
• God is pleased with humility and not so pleased with pride.
• Humility is always better than pride.
• We all prefer to be treated with humility.

It was a really good devotional.  Feel free to use it if you like.  I think the idea could be tweaked a little to make a good teen Bible talk.  Any way, the Hugheses had a good time with it.

Tom      

Zeal for His House

Hey everyone.

Shortly after returning from Teen Camp in which John 2:17 was the the theme scripture, I got to it in my own study of John.  I suppose that it would have made more sense to study it before camp, not after, but that's how it goes sometimes. 

Any way, it is the story of Jesus clearing the temple courts.  The story, recorded in John 2:13-25, tells how Jesus went up to the temple in Jerusalem and found merchants selling animals for sacrifice and exchanging money.  Jesus, in anger, makes a whip out of cords and drives the animals out and overturns the tables of the moneychangers.  It must have been quite a sight, with money and tables flying and animals running around.  Jesus was angry because, in his words, they had turned his Father's house into a market.  These men were dishonoring God's holy place by using it to turn a profit.  Jesus was not one to stand aside and allow people to make a mockery of the holiness of his Father's temple.  So he made a whip and drove them out.

Here is what I want us to think about today.  We understand that in the Old Testament times, as well as in Jesus times, the temple was viewed as God's dwelling place.  In the new covenant, however, God dwells in a different temple.  In I Corinthians 3:10-16 it tells us that we ourselves are God's temple and his Spirit dwells in us.  It tells us that we should be careful how we build our temple knowing that God dwells within us rather than in a building.  We are that building.  So consider this, if Jesus were to walk into the temple that you are building, would he be grabbing cords to make a whip?  Are there things that he would be driving out?  Are there tables he would be overturning?  Rather, may we all be building a temple that honors our Father.  Just something to think about.