I'm spending some time with some really smart kids. It's interesting watching them play with toys that my boys used to play with 35+ years ago. One of the kids had trouble identifying the farm animals, but then proceeded to ask me if we had an internet connection. She wanted to download an App. Little brother took over playing with the farm, and added in some cars--again three decades old. He used the fence as a barrier and made a McDonald's drive-through.
Kid's follow the patterns they observe in the adults around them. That's a really important lesson to develop, but I'll save it for another day.
Right now, I'm thinking about some patterns that our Lord laid down for us to follow. Though the Apostle Peter uses a very child-friendly image to make his point, the lessons are entirely grown-up.
“For you have been called for this purpose,
since Christ also suffered for you,
leaving you an example,”
(1 Peter 2:21, NASB95)
W e live in a world where finding our way is anything but child's play. The people to whom Peter originally addressed these words, are described as aliens. They had been forced to leave their homes by those who persecuted them for their faith. I figure every instinct in them cried out for revenge, but pattern Jesus left behind was of one who "while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;" (23)I have to really focus and work hard to trace over the lines my Lord laid down for me to follow. Staying in the lines is not simply a matter of a nice looking page in my coloring book. The end result is a life well-lived.
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