This Week in Faith 10-31-19
/Beware of Friendship Idealism
Friendship is one of the issues that comes up over and over again as I talk to my kids and our students. There is so much about friendship that is hard to navigate. The Biblical idea of friendship does not come naturally to us. And yet we often idealize the way we want friends to treat us at the expense of focus on the type of friend the gospel makes possible for us to be. So much of what I try to express to my kids, and our students, about this is covered in this article. Friendship can be a source of joy for our kids but also a source of heartache so we want to walk with them as they experience these ups and downs so we can help them learn, not just assume they’ll figure it out on their own. Depending on their age, maybe read this article with them, see what they notice, and how this compares to the definition of friendship they have built up in their minds.
Click here to read the article by Christine Hoover.
What Jesus Says About Sexuality in a #MeToo Age
We live in the midst of a culture saturated by sexuality. Much of it reveals the brokenness of our world around these issues. We can see the pain that can be caused and the lines that can be blurred. As we help our kids develop a Biblical framework for sexuality, we want them to see the goodness of what God has created and the ways he gives us to experience it, but also to see that the Proverb is true, “There is a way that seems right to a man, and this way leads to death.”
The discussion in this article around lust is a helpful one for our kids to grow to understand. The idea that we take every thought captive because even in our lustful thoughts about others, we damage the image of God in them.
Click here to read the article by Sam Alberry.
The New Testament Teaches Us Not to Second-Guess Surprising Conversions
Here is another article in response to all of the talk about the conversion of Kanye West. This article looks less at Kanye specifically and more at the responses we see in the book of Acts to surprising and celebrity conversions.
Click here to read the article by Patrick Schreiner.
VIDEO: Halloween: Trick or Treat
No matter what your family’s stance on Halloween is, this video is a creative way to help engage them in a discussion around it, and the hope that we find in Jesus, who is the light that shines into the darkness of the world around us.
