Bible

Kids Ministry, Kids Ministry Curriculum, Leadership

April 8, 2019

6 Things Kids Leaders Should Know about Curriculum: Part 4

When people ask me what I do for a living, I tell them that I help produce Bible study curriculum. But, of course, it is so much more than the way I feed my family—it is a passion and a privilege, one I seek to steward well. With that deep care for curriculum in mind, I want to share six things that I wish every kid’s leader knew about curriculum. Knowing these things, I believe, can transform a ministry, which more importantly, can transform lives.

So far we have covered:

Today …

Teaching God’s Word takes work.

The points made on the last two posts require this one. Teaching the Bible is not easy, nor should it be really. It takes work. You can’t expect to put minimal effort into teaching and expect maximum impact. Saturday preparation doesn’t lead to the best Sunday execution. I realize that I may have just stepped on some toes here, but there is no way around this. Teaching others is too important—far too weighty—not to talk about this (see James 3:1). If you are a teacher, you need to be prepared to roll up your sleeves and invest time, energy, and effort into preparing to teach.

The best teaching comes from the overflow of our grappling with the text. We take the leader guide and hold it up next to the Scriptures and use it, with the Spirit’s guidance, to discern what God is saying in the text, what it meant to the author and original recipients, and how we are to understand it and live it out today in our context. None of that sounds easy because none of it is. It isn’t meant to be. It takes effort, which is what our God deserves, what our kids need, and what we are called on to do as teachers.

But this doesn’t mean that you get extra credit for working needlessly harder. The old adage certainly holds true: Work smarter, not harder. Here are a few tips to help you do that.

First, do some heavy lifting up front to help you in the long run. We talked about this in the first post, but to state it again, one thing you will want to do (perhaps need to do is more accurate) is take some time to understand the values of the curriculum you are using. What are you after? Again, to call on a popular adage: If you don’t know where you are going, how will you know when you get there?

Beyond that, familiarize yourself with the resource as much as you can. How is it designed? What is the logic and flow of a session? What other items and materials are available for you to use in a session (e.g. posters) and how do you access them? I talk to people all of the time who aren’t aware of the various items available to use each week as part of The Gospel Project for Kids. Know about all the tools that you can have available in your tool belt, why each exists, and how you can use them all.

Finally, know of the extra teaching helps provided for you. Many curriculums provide plenty of additional materials to help prepare leaders. The Gospel Project provides blog posts with additional resources, weekly teacher training videos, and more. These are all provided to help you as a teacher dive deeply into the Bible story so that you can teach each session the best as possible.

Questions for reflection

What is your normal rhythm of preparing each week? Are you investing well into your calling?
What additional resources are available to help you that you might not be taking advantage of?

Next time: The best teaching experiences include activities and group interaction.

Brian Dembowczyk is the managing editor for The Gospel Project. He served in local church ministry for over 16 years before coming to LifeWay. Brian earned an M.Div. from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a D.Min. from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He and his family live in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Bible Skills, Family Ministry, Kids Ministry, Leadership

April 1, 2019

How to Combine Scripture and Music for Kids

By Jana Magruder

I am honored to host friend and colleague in ministry, Josh Waugh this week. Josh is a worship pastor who discovered the Nothing Less research that lists Bible reading and listening to Christian music as two indicators of spiritual health in kids. This inspired him to combine the two that led to an amazing outcome. I welcome you to read his story and send us your own stories about how Nothing Less has inspired some things you’ve tried in ministry.

How to Combine Scripture and Music for Kids

I had a lightbulb moment this past year that completely changed how I thought about children’s choir and involving kids in music and worship!

When the book Nothing Less: Engaging Kids in A Lifetime of Faith came out, some of our staff was able to go through it and talk about the findings. As a worship pastor, one of the conclusions that stuck out to me was the role of music in a child’s faith development. In this study, the research found a trend among young adults that Christian music was one of the top five positive influencers on children keeping the faith into young adulthood. The number one positive influencer was reading the Bible.

When I was growing up, I loved watching Captain Planet. It was so cool to think about having the power of earth, wind, or fire in a ring on your hand (except for the power of heart … that was always the weird one no one wanted). Combined together, they were unstoppable!

That’s when the lightbulb came on! What if we combined the power of Scripture and music for our kids? What if music could be the vehicle for reading the Bible and hiding it in their heart (Psalm 119:11)?

I met with our children’s choir director and shared with her my lightbulb moment. We could help our 4th and 5th graders have a better understanding of God and Scripture by combining music with actual verses from the Bible.

So that’s what we did! Here’s how:

We taught songs filled with Scripture. Our pastor was preaching through the book of Galatians verse-by-verse. From those sermons and themes, we found Scripture memory songs and worship music that utilized word-for-word portions of Galatians.
We created kid-friendly motions with the music. They learned motions to the songs and even memorized Scripture verses for spoken transitions to be used in a service.
We made it fun for the kids! We turned this into a fun, recording project for the kids at the church. The music CDs they recorded turned into a free resource for our families to memorize Scripture through song.

And now, another Captain Planet moment (my inner child was really excited), “With our powers combined …” we prepared our 4th and 5th graders to lead worship for our entire church with the adult band.

The adults were learning the book of Galatians from our Pastor on Sunday mornings. The kids were learning songs from the book of Galatians on Wednesday nights. We now had a multigenerational approach to music, worship, and reading the Bible. Kids and adults were memorizing Scripture together. With our combined forces, we created a CD and Sunday worship service called, “No Other Gospel: Songs from Galatians.”

When those 4th and 5th graders led Sunday morning worship for our entire church, it was powerful! That was a big win. But there is something else I am more excited about.

I want to know what will happen in the lives of these kids and families 10 years from now. What if these kids are keeping the faith because they read their Bible more … and they learned it through music. I believe, “With our powers combined …” God can use the next generation to change our world! The first step can be combining the power of Scripture with the power of music.

What are some things you can do in your ministry that help kids and families memorize Scripture together and read the Bible more? How do you involve music in your children’s ministry?

Josh Waugh is the Associate Worship Pastor at First Baptist Church of Hendersonville, Tennessee and a graduate of Samford University. He leads the band for weekend worship services and works with the Next Gen worship teams. Originally from Florida, Josh moved to the Nashville area with his wife, Susie, and their two daughters in 2016.

Bible Study, Sunday School, Teaching Kids

March 4, 2019

Why Prepare? Is it really all that important?

By Bill Emeott

In 1 Corinthians 14:40 we read, “Everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.” I’m convinced that the time we have with kids at church should be fitting and orderly. That certainly includes Bible study. After all, if it’s worth doing (and teaching kids the Bible is definitely worth doing) then it’s worth doing right! Preparation is the key. Here are five reasons why weekly preparation is important and vital to your success.

Preparation allows you the opportunity to hear from God. I’ve often said that God wants to speak to the kids in your class from the overflow of what He’s teaching you in your heart. Spiritual and biblical preparation allows God to use your “comings and goings” to bring the biblical text you’re teaching to life. No prep equals no opportunity for God to teach you. You’ll teach better when you’ve prepared the biblical content and taken the time to pray and meditate on the passage you’re teaching. Then, you’ll be teaching from the overflow.
Preparation ensures that you’ll accomplish your goals. It’s been said, (and I agree), “If you don’t know where you’re going, you won’t know if you get there.” Preparation helps you understand your session goals and gives you a path for which to teach toward and meet those goals.
Preparation says, “This is important.” We give time (or make time) for what we believe is important. What could be more important than teaching kids God’s story for them? We all live busy lives but giving prep time for your weekly Bible teaching needs to be a priority. Kids will notice, parents will notice, and you will notice.
Preparation cuts down on behavior problems. Benjamin Franklin is quoted as saying, “A failure to plan is a plan to fail.” I would elaborate on that by saying a failure to plan almost always is a recipe for disaster. If you don’t have a plan, kids do… and it usually doesn’t include a biblical application.
Preparation reduces stress and allows you to sense the work of the Holy Spirit and join Him during your session. When you adequately prepare and are ready for the kids the minute they enter the room, you’ll be open and sensitive to the Holy Spirit at work around you. Often times God is at work around us but we’re too distracted by our lack of preparation to notice. Don’t miss the “still small voice” because you failed to prepare.

The best session is a prepared session. The best teacher is a prepared teacher. Be the best you can be. Offer to your kids the best you can give and they deserve. Practice the gift of preparation.

Here’s a prayer I dare you to pray: “Lord, bless me according to my preparation.”

Bill Emeott serves as Lead Ministry Specialist for LifeWay Kids. He is a graduate of Mercer University and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Bill has served in Kids Ministry for almost 30 years and currently teaches 3rd Grade Bible study at his home church in Nashville, TN.

Bible Study, Kids Ministry, Leadership

February 6, 2019

6 Things Kids Leaders Should Know about Curriculum

By Brian Dembowczyk

When people ask me what I do for a living, I tell them that I help produce Bible study curriculum. But of course it is so much more than the way I feed my family—it is a passion and a privilege, one I seek to steward well. With that deep care for curriculum in mind, I want to share six things that I wish every kids leader knew about curriculum. Knowing these things, I believe, can transform a ministry, which more importantly, can transform lives.

First up…

#1 – Every curriculum is crafted around a set of core values.

From time to time, kids ministry leaders who are launching a new curriculum ask me to come and train their teachers. Often, these kids leaders want me to use the time to explain how the curriculum works—to get into the nuts and bolts and logistics of how to actually use the resource. Of course, that makes sense; using a resource well matters. But there is a bigger question that often goes unanswered at trainings like that: Why the curriculum exists.

Every curriculum is crafted around a set of core values: beliefs and goals that drive its content. Knowing what these values are, and ensuring that they connect with your kids ministry and church, is critical. A properly executed curriculum with the wrong values will not be effective in your ministry. This is a leading reason we see some groups struggle. It’s not a matter of them using curriculum incorrectly, but rather them using the incorrect curriculum. Or, what might be more likely, they do not know the DNA of the curriculum to understand where it is taking them and the win for every group time.

For example, The Gospel Project’s core values are Story, Culture, and Mission. This curriculum seeks to help kids, students, and adults grasp the one story of Scripture—God’s plan to redeem people through Jesus—and for that story to transform them and compel them to step into the ongoing gospel story and play their role as missionaries in their context. These three values inform all The Gospel Project does from what passages are covered and what vocabulary is used to what application is encouraged. Understanding this gospel-centric approach is essential.

For example, a story that is covered in all ages of The Gospel Project is David’s sin with Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11). This is certainly a challenging story to cover for adults, and even more so for students and kids, and especially for preschoolers. So why include it? Why not skip it for a more “kid-friendly” story? The reason is rooted in the curriculum’s values. This session is important to The Gospel Project because it reminds us that David was not the perfect hero we should emulate. Yes, we can and should learn good things from David, but ultimately we need to see that David was a sinner in need of a Savior just like us. And David points us to that greater hero we should strive to emulate: Jesus. Furthermore, this story reminds us that no one is beyond God’s grace. David did terrible things, yet God’s grace was sufficient. In His mercy, God showered David with His love and forgiveness and God does that for us too. Knowing those goals, which are related to that resource’s values, is essential for leaders to teach that session. If they miss that, no matter how well they might execute the logistics of the session, they will miss its win.

Questions for reflection

What are the core values of your church and kids ministry?
What are the core values of the curriculum that you use?

Next time: The goal is to teach the Bible, not the curriculum.

Bible Skills, Bible Study, Leadership

December 19, 2018

Introducing the Bible Timeline for Kids

By Tim Pollard

The makers of Explore the Bible would like to introduce to you a brand new resource that will provide fun and exciting ways to help leaders guide boys and girls to engage with God’s Word. While this timeline comes from the makers of Explore the Bible it is not unique to just those users. We hear from leaders from time to time who ask us to provide help for kids who struggle with understanding how all of God’s Word fits together. We have always tried to help kids understand the different types of literature God’s Word is written in and give them a glimpse into each of these genres of Scripture. This resource will do just that and … you can purchase it today! The Bible Timeline for Kids will help guide your kids explorations and maybe answer questions they might have about people and places in Scripture.

The Bible Timeline for Kids is a useful resource that is filled with colorful, engaging visuals built across a timeline of history. Each pack contains 12 posters that, when hung side-by-side, display the full timeline of history. The top of the chart clearly labels the time period in history and each of the 66 books of the Bible are highlighted along the timeline so you can help kids see when the events they are studying actually happened. The events of each book can be compared to other events in history that kids could be familiar with. A leaders ability to highlight where a particular Scripture passage happened, and shift to another time period in subsequent weeks, will guide kids to be able to swiftly understand how God spoke to people through all of history.

If you have used this resource already, we would love to hear from you. Please leave us a comment and let us know what you think!

Tim Pollard teaches 3rd graders at Tulip Grove Baptist Church. He’s passionate about helping kids dig deep into Scripture, which he pursues through his daily work as leader of the Explore the Bible: Kids team. Tim lives with his wife and daughters in Mount Juliet, TN.

Looking for a last minute gift for your Bible study teachers? The Bible Timeline for Kids would be an excellent choice!

Bible Skills, Bible Study, Kids Devotions, Kids Ministry

November 7, 2018

Foundations for Kids: New Testament

By Kids Ministry 101

Kayla Stevens is the Content Editor for LifeWay Kids Discipleship. She is a graduate of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and William Carey University. Kayla lives in Nashville, Tennessee and has served in Kids ministry for over 10 years.

“Look, Ms. Kayla!” I often heard as little feet darted down the hallways. “I brought my Bible today!” As a KidMin leader, these were words I loved to hear each Sunday. “I am so glad,” I smiled in return, “because today we are going to open it and use it!”

As parents and ministry leaders, we long for the Word of God to be treasured and transformative in the lives and hearts of our kids. We pray for their salvation. We work to disciple not only spiritually healthy kids but healthy adults who continue to grow and make more disciples of King Jesus. Yet, where do we start in this huge task of disciple-making? I think the answer may be simpler than we sometimes imagine.

We start by opening the Bible.

According to LifeWay Research and Nothing Less, the single greatest spiritual influencer of healthy Christian adults is that they read their Bibles as children. Yet, regular Bible reading is one of the lowest spiritual activities kids are engaging in today (28-29%). If we want to engage kids and families with healthy habits of discipleship, we must begin by leading our kids to open their Bibles regularly.

That is why I am so excited about the release of a new resource to help your kids do just that. Foundations for Kids: New Testament is a one-year—260-day Bible reading plan that engages the hearts and minds of kids in God’s Word. This plan highlights 260 foundational passages of the New Testament to encourage kids to read and understand their Bibles in a way that is interactive, accessible, and fun!

Here are 4 ways this resource implements healthy spiritual habits to help kids and families on their discipleship journey.

#1- Kids open their Bibles. This resource encourages kids to regularly read the truths found in God’s Word. They reflect on how it changes their hearts to look more like Jesus. It provides daily Scripture references that are age-appropriate and accessible to both younger and older kids. Through this plan, kids develop the habit of opening their Bibles on their own and discovering more about who God is and who He created them to be.

#2- Kids interact with what they read. They learn what the Bible verses they study mean within its given context. Foundations for Kids: New Testament follows the H.E.A.R. method to help kids interact with and apply the truths of God’s Word. The acronym H.E.A.R. stands for Highlight, Explain, Apply, and Respond. Each day, kids read a New Testament passage and interact with what they read through explanations, fun activities, discussion questions, and prayer.

#3- Kids apply God’s Word to their lives. The daily devotionals found within these pages encourage kids to act on what they read and study. Kids learn to live out their faith in tangible ways. They learn how the Word of God changes them to grow in their faith, acting on the truths of God’s Word in active obedience to Him.

#4- Kids engage with the whole family. Discipleship doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Both the church and the family link together to invest in the spiritual health of kids. Robby and Kandi Gallaty get this. That is why this Bible reading plan expands beyond kids to students and adults as well. The whole family can join the discipleship journey together, walking through the same passages of scripture all year long. This resource also includes a church plan that provides ideas and opportunities for your entire church family to walk through the New Testament together.

Foundations for Kids: New Testament is a great tool for helping you to champion discipleship in your ministry to kids and families this coming year. Lead them to open their Bibles together and discover the transforming power of their Savior through His Word.

Bible Study, Kids Ministry, Leadership

October 24, 2018

Experiencing the fun and foods of Bible-times

By Tim Pollard

Many times as we teach, it is hard to get across that the people of Bible-times were real people just like you and me. Part of that is that the Bible sheds little light on what life was like for people during the time when Jesus lived. Help your kids experience the Bible by introducing them to some of the fun and foods of Bible-times.

Fun Times

What did kids do for fun during Bible-times? You might be surprised to know that many of the games boys and girls enjoy today had some of their roots in ancient times. As a matter of fact, some of these games had been popular for hundreds of years before Jesus was born. Hopscotch, jacks, and tops have all been around since before Jesus lived on the earth. It is possible that Jesus may have played catch with His brothers and sisters with a small leather seed filled ball about the size of a baseball. Many kids during Jesus’ day also played games with whistles, hoops, and rattles. While we don’t know specifics about some of these games, you can incorporate these items into games you play and let kids decide how they need to be used. If you have a checkerboard, you might want to let kids know that kids from Bible-times were playing a game very similar to what modern day checkers looks like.

Fun Foods

Not surprising, since games have changed very little since Jesus’ day it goes without saying that food is not different at all. Bible-times people have also eaten many of the foods that your kids love today. While ancient people did not have some of the candy confections we enjoy today they did have many of the common vegetables that we still eat. One thing your kids might enjoy knowing is that it was unclean for Jewish kids and their moms and dads, to not eat any pork products so … no ham, bacon, or pork chops. For fun, bring in some of the foods more commonly mentioned in Scripture and let your kids try some of those. Those foods include leeks, garlic, onions, bread, dates, dried fruit, fish, and even insects such as locust. While I wouldn’t recommend letting kids sample a locust it might be fun to show them a picture and let them imagine what that would have been like.

Enhance your teaching by introducing kids to the fun and food of Bible-times and help them see that people during Bible-times were not much different from today.

Bible Skills, Bible Study, Bibles, Kids Ministry, Leadership

September 12, 2018

Don’t Take My Word for It

By Landry Holmes

Ironic, isn’t it? We have access to more information than the generations that came before us, yet we distrust that information with increasing cynicism. There was a time when we believed what we read or heard until the information was proven false. Now, we assume most of the things we read on the Internet are suspect until authenticated.

This is the world in which our kids are living. However, there is one source of information that is absolutely true all the time—God’s Word. Our challenge is to teach kids the Bible is authoritative. It’s the one book we can trust and not question. Congruous to that challenge, is the need to guide children to accept as truth only that which they can verify for themselves in Scripture. Such was the case for people from Josiah to Timothy.

Kids need their own copy of the Bible. During a dark period of church history, common people were denied access to the Scriptures. What they knew of God’s Word was limited to whatever the professional clergy chose to tell them. People were not allowed to question what they heard, and they had no personal access to the Bible. This, however, was never God’s plan, as illustrated by both Josiah and Ezra’s public reading of the Scriptures. (See 2 Kings 23 and Nehemiah 8.) God intends for kids to hear and read the actual words of the Bible for themselves.
Kids can trust the historicity of the Bible. If you are like I am, you often may skip over the introductory matter of some Bible books. Doing so when reading the gospel of Luke can cause you to miss an important insight. God inspired Luke to write his gospel based on “carefully investigated” truth, in order for Theophilus to “know the certainty of the things about which” he had “been instructed.” (Luke 1:3-4) Every historical fact in the Bible is true, and many are based on eyewitness accounts.
Kids should learn Bible skills. One of my favorite, obscure Bible stories is the one of the Bereans in Acts 17. These synagogue-goers did not accept at face value what Paul and his companions taught. They refused to be gullible. Instead, the Bereans “examined the Scriptures daily” to make sure Paul’s teachings were true. (Acts 17:11) When we provide kids with practical Bible skills, they will be equipped for the rest of their lives to test what they hear against the truth of God’s Word.
We must teach kids the Bible. Paul gives a clear, yet indirect, mandate to teach kids the Bible while they are still young. What a gracious reminder Paul provides Timothy when he says, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you, and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” (2 Tim 3:14-15) Don’t miss that last part. God’s Word points us to Jesus. The same Jesus who wants to rescue the kids you teach.

Ultimately, the reason you and I are called to guide kids to explore the Bible and understand the truths of God’s Word for themselves is so that they can meet and know the God of the Bible through His Son Jesus. We can and must accept this challenge. But, as in the closing words of that children’s television program, Reading Rainbow, “You don’t have to take my word for it.”

Landry Holmes is the Manager of LifeWay Kids Ministry Publishing, Nashville, TN. A graduate of Howard Payne University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Landry served on church staffs before coming to LifeWay. He is a church leader, writer, workshop facilitator, and publisher. Landry also teaches children at his church in Middle Tennessee. He and his wife Janetta are the grandparents of two adorable grandbabies.

Bible Study, Kids Bible Study, Kids Ministry, Kids Ministry Curriculum

August 28, 2018

Getting Take-Home Resources Home

By William Summey

We all know that it is disheartening to send home take-home pages, devotionals, letters, or announcements with kids after class on Sunday—only to find them in the pews or even trash cans soon afterwards. So the question is, how do we actually get the take-home pages home?

Unfortunately, this is the wrong question! The better question is, how do we connect with parents and equip them to lead their kids deeper into the Bible, life application, and theological discussion during the week? After all, just getting that take-home piece home isn’t a magic formula for success. Parents need to see the value of conversations that follow up with what you are learning on Sunday.

While many teachers report increased success by also using tactics to keep the kids on task with reading materials sent home, most kids need a gentle nudge—or more—to lead them into the Bible. Try the following to speed up success:

Invite parents for a Parent Sunday in your class—where they attend for the whole time or for a smaller time frame toward the end of class. Show parents and kids at the same time the resource you will be sending home each week and explain how to use it. Take it a step further and demonstrate how to use the resource together.
Mail the resource home when a child is absent to let families know the child was missed and explain that you will be sending one home with the child each week.
For younger kids, hand directly to parents as they pick up their child with artwork completed that week and point out a feature of the resource to the parent.
Send potions of the content via email, text, or social media.

No matter how you connect with parents, it will be worth it to get resources in their hands to help them grow their kids during the week!

William Summey is the team leader for Bible Studies for Life: Kids. Each week Bible Studies for Life: Kids not only provides a take home-page on the back of Kids Activity Pages but also provides social media and other digital resources HERE.

Encouragement, Kids Ministry, Leadership

August 21, 2018

Dealing with Difficult People

By Bill Emeott

People are flawed. And because people are people, and because ministry is to, for, with, and by people, you’re probably dealing with some people you consider to be flawed and difficult. And the truth is, there are likely other people who consider you to be part of their “difficult” people group.

The first thing we need to realize is that there’s not much you can do to change anyone. You aren’t able to make those “difficult” people act any less difficult. The only person you can change is you. We can’t control how people respond, but we can control how we respond to others.

Let’s call on scripture to help us know what we can do to work more effectively with the difficult people in our lives. Let’s see what James 1 says:

TAKE A DEEP BREATH (verse 2-4):

“Consider it a great joy my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.”

What? Consider these difficult people GREAT JOY? Yep, that’s what it says. Maybe, just maybe, this difficult person has been placed in your life to mature and grow you. See the situation as an opportunity, not a punishment.

PRAY (verse 5):

“Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God — who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly — and it will be given to him.”

Pray and ask for wisdom. Seek wisdom on how to deal with the difficult situation, person, and behavior. Pray for the person with whom you are struggling. Ask God to show you the way He sees them.

2 Corinthians 5:16 tells us, “From now on, then, we do not know anyone in a purely human way.”

So, when you look at difficult people around you, don’t see them in a human way; see them as Jesus would see them. Think of people how Jesus thinks of people. Learn to see what Jesus sees in people.

Man saw a lunatic; God saw a righteous man — Noah.
Man saw a possible attempted murderer; God saw a father of a nation in Abraham.
His brothers saw an arrogant brat; In Joseph, God saw a way for His people to survive.
Man may have seen a murdering bush-talker; God saw a leader for deliverance named Moses.
Man saw a stuck-up elitist; God saw a missionary named Jonah.
Man saw a lying, cheating, tax collector; Jesus saw a forgiven man named Zacchaeus.
Man saw a homeless, radical troublemaker; God saw the Savior of the world — Jesus.

HANG IN THERE (verse 12):

“Blessed is the one who endures trials, because when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life He has promised to those who love him.”

If you’re angry, find a healthy way to diffuse your anger. Endure the trial. Know that there’s a reward coming!

CONSIDER THE SOURCE OF THE DIFFICULTY (verse 13-14):

“No one undergoing a trial should say, ‘I am being tempted by God’ … But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desires.”

To be clear, God does not use sin to tempt you. Be careful not to look past the mirror to explain the difficult situation. You may be looking at the problem in the eyes.

TAKE A THREE-STEP APPROACH (verse 19)

“My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.”

#1 – Be quick to listen. #2 – Be slow to speak. #3 – Be slow to anger! Very good advice. We have two ears and one mouth. Perhaps that’s God’s way of instructing us to speak half as much as we listen. Be careful as you deal with difficult people. Anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.

TAKE ACTION (verse 22-25)

“But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face in a mirror. For he looks at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what kind of person he was. But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works – this person will be blessed in what he does.”

Be a doer. Take action, not to react, but respond. And don’t forget to look in the mirror. We’re all sinners in need of forgiveness. Then, be blessed! Let it go. Give it to God and don’t take it back!

Dealing with difficult people can be difficult. I’m working hard at not being difficult as I deal with those I perceive to be difficult. I’m trying to see these people differently. Not as difficult, but as a blessing. That changes everything.