A New Perspective

We’re working our way through Chapter 8 of Volume 5. We’ve finished the main parables of Jesus and now we’re working on the stewardship section. There are 23 concepts about stewardship that are being taught over a 15-day period. Today we studied the third concept, Knowledge of the Investment. The Bible examples used by the author were the parable of the new patch on an old garment and the new wine in old wineskins.

To be honest, I’ve never thought of those parables as teaching about stewardship. To me they are teaching that we need to put away our old, earthly thoughts and focus on Christ now that we’re believers. I thought they were teaching us that we shouldn’t try to mix Christianity with Pagan rituals.

In trying to teach the lesson, I had to look at these parables with a fresh eye. I have not changed my mind about the point Jesus was trying to make, but I’ve gained a new appreciation for His choice of words. He chose activities that His audience could relate to–do I do that when trying to get my point across?

Because I’m teaching a wide range of ages (6-16) I often wonder if I’m losing the interest of some of my children while I try to explain something to others. It’s challenging, but I know I need to reach each of them where they’re at, and then challenge them in their thinking so they will grow to the next level of understanding.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of this unit works out, not only for my children, but for my own Bible understanding as well.

This entry was posted on February 22, 2007 at 10:28 am and is filed under Volume 5, Bible. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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