Today is the tenth installment of 30 days of resources for your family to use to grow together. Each of our daily activities will have the following pieces:
- PLAY TOGETHER: An opportunity to have fun and do something together instead of watching Netflix.
- TALK TOGETHER: Around the dinner table or just two of you sitting on the back porch, take turns asking these questions to learn more about the other.
- ORIENT TOGETHER: In time of need we have an opportunity to renew our vision for Jesus, and pray for His work in our life and world.
We hope these resources are helpful to you as a family. Feel free to share with others as well!
Board/Card games – Dust off those games in your closet or purchase some new ones on Amazon before it’s too late! This is a fun way to engage in conversation while fostering family time!
- What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever done?
- What’s one thing you can’t live without?
- What’s one thing you don’t have that you wish you did?
Read Philippians 1:20-21; 3:7-11
If you were to die today, do you think that you would be gaining something? The answer for most of us is probably no. I remember learning later in life that Jesus would come back for His people and we would live with Him forever. Once I learned that, I started praying that Jesus would wait to come back until after I got married. After I was married, I asked that He would wait to come back until after I had children. Now I find myself asking that He would wait to come back until my kids trust in Him for salvation.
What are you hoping would happen in your life before Jesus comes back?
Contrary to my prior faulty perception, Paul thought the opposite. He thought that dying and being with Jesus was much better than any experience this life could offer. However, it is almost “easy” to die for Jesus. It’s much harder to live for Him. I am often challenged by Paul in chapter 3. How can he possibly say that he considers all things loss compared to gaining Jesus? Did he really think that? Is Jesus really better than family? Friends? Games? Movies? Food? How is this possible?
The key is in the word, “surpassing”. Paul is not advocating that the things of this life are in and of themselves trash, but rather that compared to knowing Jesus they are rubbish. It is similar to what Jesus said in Luke 14:26:
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”
Jesus is not advocating that we hate our parents but is saying that our love for Him must be so great that it almost looks like we hate other things in comparison. Paul is saying likewise. But how? A lot of the things we want and enjoy in this life make empty promises. But none of them died to keep those promises. But Jesus did. Jesus is the only One who actually lost life so that we could have true life! He suffered the loss of life, his friends, and even His own Father so that we could always have Him. His worth is surpassing but it will cost us. What will it cost you?
Pray
Thank You Jesus for not making promises that are empty but for demonstrating your own love for us by living when we couldn’t, and dying when we should have. There are many things in our life that captivate our hearts, things that distract us from loving You. Help us value the things on earth in the appropriate way. If we must suffer loss of things in order to gain You, give us the faith to do that.
Today’s Family Resource for Growing Together is written by Adam Davenport, a speaker and business consultant in Raleigh, NC.
MODGNIK 