Hey
kids.
This is
a letter from me to all of you, you guys going from fifth grade to sixth grade.
I’ve loved getting to teach you, learn from you, laugh with you, and hang with
you. I’ll miss you guys a lot. (Even though I’ll still see you, you won’t be coming
to my Sunday School class anymore.)
I hope,
in this letter, to communicate to you my biggest goal in life:
To walk
closely with Jesus in everything.
That’s
what I’ve tried to teach you. I care about you all so very much – I want you to
know that Jesus loves you even more. You are precious to him, you matter to
him, and you are each full of love, power, and joy – all given from him.
I’m
writing this without really knowing how long it will be. I just want to pour my
heart out to you kids; to show you how much Jesus loves you and how much I hope
that you’ll grow closer to him each and every day, and how much I hope that
you’ll bring people you know closer to Jesus.
There’s
so much on my heart I want to write, I don’t even know where to begin. Let’s
start here:
Never
forget: JESUS
In
Matthew 1, an angel appears to Mary and says about Jesus,
“You shall call him Jesus, for he
will save his people from their sins.”
He does.
Whatever things, like sins or discouraging things, make you feel unworthy –
forget them. Jesus has taken them away. Satan wants us to sin so that we feel
disconnected from God. No matter what we or anyone else has done, we cannot be
pushed away from Jesus. He has saved us from the barrier that sin creates.
Jesus is there for you.
Never
forget that you are always close to Jesus, because he is always close to us.
Like it says in 1 John 4:
“We love because he first loved us.”
We can’t
love at all apart from God. His love shows us how to love and who we should
love.
Love without stopping
Love unconditionally
Love everyone
Simply
put, our love is because of God. Look to him when you have a hard time loving
others or when you don’t feel loved.
Let
your roots grow deeper in the right foundation.
Matthew
13 is where we started this year. That chapter talks about many things,
including where the roots of plants are located. There were four types of soil.
Can you remember them? They are:
1. The Path
2. Rocky Ground
3. Amongst Thorns
4. Good Soil
The path
was not a good place for the seeds to be planted – birds came and ate the seeds
so they couldn’t grow.
The
rocky ground was where the plants grew quickly, shouting, “YEAH I’M A PLANT!”
But the soil was shallow, so the plants quickly withered and died. They had no
depth and no way to get lasting nutrition.
The
seeds that fell amongst the thorns were in bad company – they could grow but
had nowhere to go. They were with bad plants, weeds, and were ruined because of
what community they were in.
Finally,
the seeds that were planted in good soil have a happy ending. They grow and
bring new life, because their roots are in the healthy and good soil.
From
this teaching of Jesus, know that we can decide what type of soil to be.
1. We
can be the path, where the good news of Jesus has no place to grow.
2. We
can be the rocky ground, where we are excited by things about Jesus, but have
no roots and foundation of faith in him – we will be quickly caught into
following other things.
3. We
can be the thorny soil, where the world chokes out the goodness and truth of
Jesus and tricks us into believing lies instead of truth.
4. We
can be the good soil, amongst other good plants and where the truth of Jesus
grows deeper and taller. Then, we can help others to know his love.
As you
grow up, never forget to be rooted in Jesus – the good news of who he is.
In
Hebrews, it talks about what it means to grow up as well. It says,
“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you
need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You
need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the
word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature,
for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish
good from evil.”
There
were people living in Rome who believed in God, went to church, but did nothing
about that. They only did the same thing over and over again, like they were
children being fed baby food.
As you
grow up, don’t forget to really grow up. You all can teach others about Jesus
right now! Think about what more you will be able to teach as you get older.
Keep on growing in Jesus; be the soil that never stops finding nourishment from
Jesus.
We can
get our nourishment, of course, from the Bible, church, and our friends and
family who follow Jesus. Also – serving.
Serve
like Jesus served.
You all
(I hope) know very well the story of Jesus in John 13. In that chapter, Jesus
washes his disciples’ feet. He is the greatest of all human beings to ever
live, so if he washed people’s feet, we should too.
(It
would probably be good for you to actually do this for someone sometime.
Literally do it! Tell someone they matter to you and that you want to serve
them. Actually wash someone’s feet.)
Find
out how you most enjoy talking to God.
Prayer
is one of the most important things for a follower of Jesus.
Write
letters to God – whatever is on your heart and your mind. Be honest with God,
he knows your heart. Never stop trusting in him. He is God, our hope must
always be in him. Without him, we have no salvation or kingdom. Our God is
mighty, compassionate, and desires communication with us. Be open to him. You
will know what he wants you to know.
Talk to
God with others. Pray together, not just at meals. Pray when you want to, when
you need to. Pray when you are scared or need encouragement. Pray in places
where you don’t usually pray.
Find a
prayer spot in your home where you can sit quietly alone with God and just
focus on him. Focus on the Bible, on what Jesus has done, on who Jesus is.
Pray
through Scripture.
About guidance and trusting in
God:
Psalm
25:4-5
“Make me to know your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths.
Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is
in you all the day long.”
In prayer for others:
Colossians
1:9-10
“And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to
pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in
all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 1so
as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit
in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”
In focusing on who Jesus is:
Revelation
1:17-18
“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But
he laid his right hand on me, saying, ‘Fear not, I am the first and the last,
and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the
keys of Death and Hades.’”
Pray
these, and don’t forget to read them in their context.
Speaking
of who Jesus is, don’t forget the things he says “I AM” in John.
John 4 – I give you living water
John 6 – I am the bread of life
John 8 – I am the light of the world
John 10 – I am the good shepherd, I
am the gate
John 11 – I am the resurrection and
the life
John 14 – I am the way, the truth,
and the life
John 15 – I am the true vine
I could
write so much more. Let me finish with this:
Jesus
loves you. You matter. Take the good news of Jesus with you everywhere you go.
Speak about it. Live with it in your mind actively. Never forget that Jesus is
real. This world will challenge that. I want you to be ready to live with Jesus
as your King.
I love
you guys as well; it has been a joy to get to spend so much time with you, I
only hope that I have helped you to be more deeply rooted in Jesus. I hope you
feel empowered by Jesus. I hope you are more prepared to know Jesus and to help
others know him as well.
I
apologize for writing such a long letter that has so much in it, but I want you
to know all of it. Never stop walking with Jesus.
You all
are so fantastic. And I can’t say it enough, always walk with Jesus. He is
King, he is love, he is mighty, he is forever, he is our provider…He is.
In His Majesty’s Service and Fellowship,
Joshua D. “Speed” Reed
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