This past meeting, we studied James 2. We had the girls answer these questions:
-What are some ways that we show favoritism in our everyday lives?
-How should we be combining faith with action?
-What are some ways you SHOULD be combining faith with action, but aren’t?
-What's the difference between salvation and justification?
-Is telling a lie ever okay? (This would be a great one to talk to your parents about!)
At the meeting, we discussed some of them, focusing mainly on the last one ("Is telling a lie ever okay"). There were some very different viewpoints within the group (aided by the fact that Jael and Sylvia have opposite viewpoints), so we had some great discussion! At the end of the discussion, we reminded the girls that it's okay to believe differently on issues like this, as long as the issue isn't fundamental to the Christian faith, and that different beliefs should never cause broken friendships or heated arguments.
We had several of the girls read through skits illustrating favoritism:
Assignments for next meeting:
Please Read:
James 3-4
Questions:
How are you allowing “salt water” to flow from your mouth?
What does it mean to be a friend of the world? How can we guard against it?
When is it okay to judge someone, and HOW is it okay to judge someone?
Is it bad to plan ahead?
Action steps:
Try to say ONLY uplifting words. If your parents allow you to do so, make a sharpie mark on your hand or arm every time you fail to do this, then count up the marks at the end of the day. (If you can’t make a sharpie mark, carry around a small notebook and pencil in your pocket to keep track.)
Find some character trait that you boast about that really isn’t a good thing and try not to boast about it.
