Dear Parents,
This week in High Life we completed our six-week series called Happy which has focused on finding true happiness in life by pursuing God’s path rather than the world’s path. Our key text for all of these lessons has been Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, in particular the Beatitudes (Matthew 5).
In particular this week we focused in on Matthew 5:10-12 which reads: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things about you falsely on account of me. Rejoice and be glad because your reward is great in heaven. They persecuted the prophets before you in the same way.” Often when we read this text, we envision only one type of persecution: martyrdom. Many Christians of the Bible were martyred for their faith. In recent months our world has seen many Christians of the Middle East lose their lives for their faith. We are blessed in America to not be experiencing that type of persecution yet. However, we focused in on other ways that our youth might still experience persecution and what they should do when encountering it.
We talked about insults, ridicule and lies as three ways that we can experience persecution in a lesser way. Many of our teens probably face these types of persecution daily as they walk the halls of their schools. These types of persecution threaten our emotional health more than our physical well-being. We focused on what types of responses we should have in these situations. First, we can respond with kindness. Next, we should continue to stand for what we believe even if we are standing all alone. And finally, we should remember that our reward is in heaven. Whatever we face here on earth, we must remember that this world is not our home, and Jesus promises a reward awaiting us in heaven.
I hope that this series has challenged your students in these integral years of their lives to choose God’s path to happiness and not the world’s path. The point of this whole series through the six weeks of Happy has really been a challenge for us to live a holy and transformed life, to not think in the ways that the world thinks, but to think with eternal perspective, to think differently. I know it’s been a good reminder to me to daily choose God’s way rather than the way that I’m constantly bombarded with in the world.
Blessings,
Shane, Chris, and Catherine