To introduce the close of your lesson, “Commitment: A Path to Effectiveness,” read the following story and ask members what word they would use to characterize Connie?
Read: Connie Douglas spends part of her summers at Camp Waldemar for Girls along the Guadalupe River in Texas, helping teach horseback riding to girls, ages 7 to 16. What makes Connie Douglas so unusual is that she is 100 years old and has been doing this for 66 summers. She has also attended law school, taught school and worked with her husband as a rancher. When the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame opened this summer, Douglas was honored because she has taught more than 30,000 girls to ride horseback.Source: "Almost 101, cowgirl still saddles her horse," CNN.com, 22 Sept. 02, http://www.cnn.com/. Updated article on Connie.
As an alternative, here are a few ‘case studies’ you could ask members to read to uncover individual commitments.
1. Allan and Susan are new Christians. They thanked God for the blessing of giving them a grand baby, but Susan has just learned that her daughter’s newborn baby has a birth defect. She and Allan do not want to question God, but their new faith is being shaken. Others around them are blaming God for the baby’s problem. What is your suggestion for this couple to remain faithful and committed in the face of this discovery?
2. John has worked for his company for 20 years. He has just been informed that because of a downsizing, he will no longer have a job. He and Mary, his wife, have outstanding debts that demand monthly payments. The two are Christians, and their friends are urging them to sue his former company for age discrimination. They asked you for advice. What would you tell them?
3. Robert is not a Christian. However, he respected that Jesus could attract such a large following through His teachings, but feels that he can’t live up to His requirements. Robert’s life is unsatisfying to him and he does not like life’s lack of ‘real purpose’ as he sees it. You sit down beside Robert on an airplane trip and strike up a conversation. He asks you “In what way is your life with Jesus personally satisfying?” What would you say to him?
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3 comments:
I finished this thought today and thought to share it on your blog.
We all find ourselves living and working in an ungodly immoral culture. If you don’t work at the church, you are almost certain to find yourself working among people who talk bad, have bad habits; participate in sinful activities outside of work. How would you rate your workplace surroundings? On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being completely the most non-Christian bunch of people you have ever met…..what kind of people do you work with?
There have been people at work that carry on affairs with other co-workers……..you find out about their affair 6 months after it has started. I work at a hospital. There are nurses at work who curse………I know we all might say something off color every now and then…….but these girls….. Every other word is just foul coming out of there mouth. And every topic seems to come back to sex or something sexual……..it’s really hard to avoid this when you are surrounded by this at work. What can we do? How do we handle these situations? For the most part the where you work is not going to be a place of encouragement to live out your faith. It can get discouraging there if you are trying to dodge and weave every temptation that is thrown at you….it takes an extremely large amount of faith and determination to live a Christian life and be set apart as a person who lives for God.
We need to try and make a conscious decision to live faithfully for Christ no matter who is around us; no matter what they are talking about; we have to try and refrain from being a part of those bad conversations that go on at work or with our friends in those social settings that we may go to with people. Today’s lesson Biblical Truth is God wants His people to be faithful to Him even thought they live in a godless and immoral society.
Maybe this is a small taste of what Isaiah and Micah experienced. Unlike other prophets of their day, they stood firm on the word the Lord gave them. May we do the same in spite of our circumstances. "Do not grow weary in well doing."
Ps. 34:3,
JH
Very true Robin. To your point, the cultural element I'm around includes very smart people who have been trained to rule out matters of faith as irrational. Expressions of faith are pounced on and chewed up.
Thanks to you and JH!
RW
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