A Friend’s Letter

Paul wrote a letter to his friend, Philemon. This letter is actually a book in the Bible called Philemon. In fact, most of the books in the New Testament were letters written from Paul to the churches he had started. The Bible is God’s love letter to us.

Write a letter to a friend or relative. If your child is too young to write, he can dictate a few sentences for you to write and then he can draw a picture at the bottom. Address it, stamp it, and put it in the mailbox.

Forgiving Others

Ask:

When someone hurts you or makes you mad, what do you want to do? (I want to hurt him back or be mean to her.)

This reminds me of a story in the Bible about Philemon who had been wronged by his servant, Onesimus. Onesimus stole money and ran away, but he met the missionary, Paul who told him about Jesus. Onesimus became a follower of Jesus and was changed.

Paul writes Philemon and asks him to forgive Onesimus and accept him as a friend.

Would you want to forgive Onesimus?

Paul wanted Philemon to deal gently with Onesimus because God also had forgiven Philemon and made him free of sin. This is the only way to forgive those who have wronged us–to remember that God has forgiven us and made us free from sin.

Is there someone God wants you to forgive? (Forgiveness doesn’t mean that the other person wasn’t wrong or that you weren’t hurt; it means you are giving up your right to get them back.)

The Pet Store

Visit a pet store and admire the puppies.

Talk about how pets and animals are dependent on people to care for them. Tell your children that Proverbs 12:10 says a righteous man cares about and treats his animals well. Treating animals with gentleness and kindness pleases God.

The fruit of the Spirit for this week is gentleness. Another word for gentleness is kindness. When Jesus lives inside you through His Spirit, He will help you to be gentler and kinder.

On the way home, play the opposite game. Say one of the words listed below and they must think of a word or two that means the opposite.

Find the opposite for: tender-hearted, courteous, harmless, kind, pleasant, polite, peaceable, sensitive, and meek.

How do you think God wants you to act?

****Look for times when your children are showing gentleness/kindness and praise them for it. “I’m glad to see you helping your brother tie his shoes. I’m proud of you for being kind to your sister and making her a sandwich.”