Children's Devotion - Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right, ask St. Patrick

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. -Romans 12:21

What do you do when somebody is mean to you?  Now, if somebody puts their hands on you, you need to tell your teachers, parents or somebody that can stop that immediately.  Nobody has a right to put their hands on you in any unwanted way.  However, what if somebody is rude to you or not very nice or maybe even makes a joke about you, how do you react?  Are you mean back to them?  Do you do the same things to them or even to somebody else?  Or do you pray for them and forgive them, because you realize they need the love of Jesus in their hearts?  
I know that last is really hard no matter what age you are, but it can help us let no hold onto or bottle up that person's words/actions and it can help make sure we are spreading of the love of Christ.  

When I was growing up my parents always said, “Two wrongs don’t make a right.”  So, just because somebody does it to you, it does not give you a right to do it back to them (or even someone else), because that is not how God would want us to act.  In fact, in the Bible Jesus tells us to “turn the other cheek,” which means if somebody is not being nice to you, pray for them, love them and be nice back to them so they can see the love of God in you.

Yesterday was St. Patrick ’s Day and St. Patrick is a great example of somebody “loving their enemies,” as Jesus says in Matthew.  St. Patrick’s real name is Maywen Sugat (aren’t you glad you don’t have to go around saying happy Maywen Sugat day?) and he was from a country called England.  When he a youth he was kidnapped by Pirates and taken to a country called Ireland where he was made to be a slave.  A slave means that people make you do a lot of hard work and treat you badly, but you don’t get paid to do it.  Now, eventually Maywan escaped and went back to England where he actually became a pastor and later a Bishop (He was the pastor of all the pastors and churches in a certain area).

One day, Patrick felt God calling him to go back to Ireland and teach the people there about the love of Jesus.  If you were Patrick, what would you think?  Now, it would have been really easy for him to say, “They treated mean and weren’t nice to me,” but he realized they were people made in God’s image that Christ died for, so he knew that he needed to go teach them about the love of Jesus. Even though they were mean to him, he did the right thing and went back to teach and show them the love of God and many of them started believing in Jesus because of St. Patrick (he used a three leaf clover to teach them about the three parts of the 1 God, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  That’s why you get pinched if you don’t wear green on St. Patrick’s Day).

Next time somebody may not be being very nice to you, remember, it may be because they need to be shown God’s love, so be nice back and act the way Jesus would want you to act and see, if like St. Patrick, you can help bring them to Jesus.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Family Movie Night - Jumanji - The Next Level (Rated PG-13)

Image
Devotional for Jumanji – the Next Level Please note that this movie is rated PG-13 and for good reason.  There are several times that they unnecessarily use profanity, including GD.  Despite that it still has a redeemable value and good be good for the older children in the families since the last couple Family Movie Night Devotions we have put out there have been on movie for younger children. Before the movie read… 1 Corinthians 12:12-27- 12  Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.   13  For we were all baptized by [ c ]  one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.   14  Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15  Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ...
Read more

Family Movie Night - Playing with Fire

Image
Family Movie Night Devo – Playing with Fire    Read the following Bible verses before watching the movie. 1 Corinthians 12:7 - Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. There are two very important things we can learn from this Bible verse.  Each one of us have a gift or gifts from the Holy Spirit.  Sometimes when we talk about gifts of the Spirit, we think of speaking in tongues or healing, but it can be baking, patience, management, sports, medicine, etc.  It is whatever we are naturally better at and naturally drawn to do.  It is what gives us great joy when we are doing it.  We all have gifts. Those gifts are to be used to glorify God and the betterment of the world.  We are not to use our gifts just to make money or get awards.  We are to use it to make God known.  If we just focus on ourselves, our careers and our accomplishments we will not have the “peace that surpasses underst...
Read more

Family Movie Night - Trolls World Tour

Image
Before you watch the movie review these scriptures and points. Galatians 3:28 – There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatia was a melting pot of people.  It was where Asian and Greek influences met.  Before being conquered by Rome, the area was comprised of three different countries that were forcefully united under Roman Rule.  Most religions and communities separated based on their differences and their backgrounds.  The Church started by Paul in Galatia started to let these barriers come into the Church and divide God’s people.  Paul was not ignoring the diversity.  He realized the diversity was what made the people unique and special, however, what he does remind them is that what unites them is much stronger than anything that could divided them.  He is reminding them that despite being different, they are on in Jesus Christ.  In Christ, th...
Read more