3-Day Reading Plan: Live Love Does

Scriptures: Hebrews 13:8, Isaiah 41:10

When I was in kindergarten, we had nap time every afternoon. I know, it sounds so boring, right? I thought so too. The only thing I liked about nap time was a special job I hoped to get. Every day, the teacher would pick someone to be the “Wake-Up Fairy.” The Wake-Up Fairy got to put on wings, tap people on their shoulders with a magic wand, and announce that it was time to wake up. I thought it was the coolest job in the world, and I couldn’t wait for my turn.

One day, my moment finally came—my teacher picked me to be the Wake-Up Fairy! It’s finally my chance! I’ll be the best Wake-Up Fairy the world has ever seen, I thought to myself.

I put on the fairy wings, grabbed the wand, and headed around the room to do my job, but I was so excited that I forgot to walk carefully. As I ran through the classroom, tapping my friends on their shoulders, I stepped on somebody’s nose. My teacher wasn’t happy. In fact, I’d had so much trouble listening and following directions that she took away my wand and wings.

To tell you the truth, it felt pretty awful. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone; I was just so excited to do my job that I forgot to look where I was going. 

Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever tried your hardest to do the right thing but messed up anyway? We’ve all messed up now and then, and it can feel pretty awful.

What I learned later in life from Jesus is that when we mess up, we don’t have to keep feeling awful. When Jesus picked out His friends and asked them to spend time with Him, He didn’t go to the people who were the smartest in school or the most popular. He didn’t even look for the people with fancy jobs or nice houses or those who made a lot of money. He definitely didn’t look for people who always listened to their teachers or the ones who hadn’t made mistakes before.

The Bible says Jesus saw a few fishermen near the edge of a lake and chose them to be His closest friends. I bet those fishermen had so much trouble in school that they didn’t even go anymore! They probably didn’t even have their nets on the right side of the boat most of the time, but Jesus picked them anyway.

Jesus asked a tax collector to follow Him too. Nobody liked tax collectors because they stole other people’s lunch money and called it their own. In fact, Jesus spent so much time with people who had made big mistakes that people started saying not-so-nice things about Jesus behind His back. But Jesus didn’t care what it would look like if He loved people who had made mistakes. He wanted everybody who had ever messed up to know that He liked them all the same. He even used their mistakes to prove how much He really loved them. 

It’s sometimes easy to think that when we make a mistake we are somehow a little less worthy of being loved, or that when people think about us they’ll only think about the mistake we made. What I didn’t realize when I made my big mistake in kindergarten is that God’s love for us doesn’t change on our worst days. Come to think of it, we can’t earn more of God’s love on our best days. We are simply loved by God, no matter what, and because of Jesus, God doesn’t define us by our mistakes.

That day as the Wake-Up Fairy wasn’t my only bad day at school. School was always hard for me, and at times I wanted to quit. But you know what? I didn’t. I believed that Jesus loved me even when I struggled because the stories I read about Jesus showed He didn’t see people for their mistakes. He saw them for who they were becoming, even when they couldn’t see it for themselves.

What I didn’t know as a failed Wake-Up Fairy was that someday, if I kept at it, I would go to school to become a lawyer. I would get the chance to help kids around the world by starting new schools that they could go to. And the one rule we have for students at our schools is this: we always try our best, but when we make mistakes, we remember how much Jesus loves us—no matter what!

Jesus knew that mistakes don’t keep people from doing important things. Remember those fishermen He met by the lake? They would end up traveling all over, telling people about Jesus. And the tax collector? He eventually started a church. Can you believe that? All of this happened because Jesus told each of His friends who they were becoming, and they believed Him. So the next time you make a mistake, just think to yourself: I am loved, and I am God’s . . . and I wonder who God is turning me into.

Here’s the answer:

You are becoming a helper.

You are becoming a leader.

You are becoming love.

Scriptures: Ephesians 4:32, Matthew 18:21-22

I’ve always thought Jeeps are the coolest cars ever made. They’re tough and fun, and I especially like the ones that don’t have a roof. I used to have a bright red Jeep, and it ended up helping me learn a very important lesson.

A few years ago, I was driving home from church. Out of nowhere, another car drove toward me from a side street and crashed into the driver’s side of my Jeep. Before I knew what had happened, my car flipped over, and I went flying right out of the roof! I knew that I was always supposed to wear my seatbelt, but this time I had forgotten. That was a really big mistake.

I landed in a sitting position on the asphalt, facing my wrecked car. Pieces of the Jeep were scattered everywhere—in the street, on a lawn, and even lodged in a nearby fence. It was a mess! I checked to see if I was okay.

Do I have all my arms and legs? Check.

Fingers and toes? Check.

Slowly, I stood up and realized that I felt just fine. I walked over to the car that had just hit me. The stunned driver was sitting behind her steering wheel, holding on for dear life, eyes staring forward. Her knuckles were white. 

I popped my head in her window. “Hi! I’m Bob. What’s your name?”

The driver was at least ninety years old, small, fragile, and scared. It took her a moment to respond. “I . . . I’m Lynn,” she stuttered.

“Lynn, are you okay?” I asked.

“I . . . think so,” she said. Suddenly, tears came to her eyes.

“I’m so sorry . . . Did you know you flew out of your roof?!”

“Oh, Lynn,” I said, matching her serious tone but with a smile in my voice. “I can’t lie. That was a pretty big surprise, but luckily I’m okay. So really, no worries at all. Everything’s great!”

Lynn still felt terrible, but of course I forgave her on the spot. It really had been an amazing ride.

A few days later, I received a phone call. It was Lynn. “I’m so sorry, Bob,” she said in a tearful voice.

“Oh, Lynn,” I said, “really, don’t worry about it. You are totally forgiven. I’m great! Not even a bruise. No need to call again.”

The funny thing is, she didn’t stop calling. Over the next few days, I got daily phone calls from Lynn. Each time, she would apologize, and I would remind her that everything was okay. For some reason, she just didn’t believe me when I said that she was forgiven.

Jesus talked a lot about forgiving people. Do you know how many times Jesus wants you to forgive someone who has done something wrong to you? Think of the biggest number you can imagine and add a couple more zeros at the end, and then maybe you’d be close to the number of times you need to forgive someone. Jesus wants us to always forgive others.

But maybe you know what it feels like to be Lynn, and you feel awful for making a mistake. Maybe you don’t believe people when they say you’re forgiven. Sometimes we need to see that we are forgiven, instead of only hearing the words.

So I hatched a plan. On the fifth day Lynn called to tell me she was sorry, I called up a florist and ordered a huge bouquet of flowers. I included a card that said, “Dear Lynn, it was nice running into you the other day. You don’t need to call anymore! Love, Bob.”

Love and forgiveness carry the most weight when they are done, rather than simply said. That’s why it was so important that Jesus came. God didn’t just tell us we were forgiven; He sent Jesus to be with us and show us that we are forgiven.

I’ve seen Lynn a few times since the accident. It took a while, but I think she really believes she’s forgiven. I think God’s hoping we’ll feel the same way.

Scriptures: Deuteronomy 6:5-9, Matthew 5:15-16

One of my favorite movies of all time is Hook. Have you ever seen it? It’s the story of Peter Pan, but unlike the cartoon version, it has real-life people playing the characters. In this version of the story, Peter grew up to be a boring lawyer named Peter Banning. When his kids were captured by Captain Hook the pirate, Peter Banning had to go back to Neverland to rescue them. The problem at the beginning of the movie is that Peter forgot who he was. He forgot he was Peter Pan. We all forget who we are at times.

The whole movie is great, but my favorite part is when Peter Banning has dinner with the Lost Boys on his first night back in Neverland. He sits down at the table, smells delicious food, and is ready to dig in. When the Lost Boys remove the lids from the platters, Peter is confused—there’s nothing there! All around him he sees the Lost Boys chomping away on seemingly invisible food, and he’s confused about why he can’t also see the food.

The problem was this: Peter was just watching the Lost Boys eat. Peter needed to participate before he could see the food. In order to believe the way the Lost Boys did, he had to do what they did.

I think that faith can be the same way. In order to believe, we can’t just learn things about Jesus. We need to do things with Him. We need to get to the do part. I’ve met with the same group of guys every Friday morning for over ten years. When we’re together, we certainly learn things about Jesus, but we’re not there to study Him. Studying is good, but by itself it’s just like Peter Banning sitting at the dinner table and not eating a thing. Our faith becomes real when do what we believe.

Instead of a Bible study, my friends and I meet every Friday morning to have a Bible doing. We read the things that Jesus taught, and then we go out and put them into action in our day-to-day lives. We try to do the big things Jesus talked about and the small ones too. Every time we do the things Jesus talked about instead of just talking about them, something changes in us. It’s like we can see the food at the Lost Boys’ dinner. Jesus has set that kind of feast in front of us and hopes we’ll all be part of it.

One of the things we’ll do at the Bible doing is think of ways we can understand our faith better by doing something. I’ll give you one example. A lot of times, the position of our bodies can affect the position of our hearts and minds. Try this: hold your hands in really tight fists in front of you. Couldn’t you get really angry at someone if your fists were clinched? Now try holding your hands palms up, with your fingers stretched out in front of you. It’s harder to be angry, isn’t it? I’ve experienced faith to be the same way. When I put faith into action with my body, then my heart and mind follow along.

I don’t think Jesus wants us to just agree with Him. I think He wants us to take what He taught His friends and turn it into action. When we actually do the things that Jesus said—giving food to people who are hungry, being generous with our time and money, or being nice to people who are mean to us—our hearts will follow our actions, and our faith will become real!