Little Sins Grow
Bible Readings
Take a few minutes to read the Bible verses listed and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you in how this verse applies to you this week.
1 Why do you fight and argue with each other? Isn't it because you are full of selfish desires that fight to control your body? 2 You want something you don't have, and you will do anything to get it. You will even kill! But you still cannot get what you want, and you won't get it by fighting and arguing. You should pray for it. 3 Yet even when you do pray, your prayers are not answered, because you pray just for selfish reasons. 4 You people aren't faithful to God! Don't you know if you love the world, you are God's enemies? And if you decide to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. 5 Do you doubt the Scriptures that say, “God truly cares about the Spirit he has put in us”? 6 In fact, God treats us with even greater kindness, just as the Scriptures say, “God opposes everyone who is proud, but he blesses all who are humble with undeserved grace.” 7 Surrender to God! Resist the devil, and he will run from you. 8 Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Clean up your lives, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you people who can't make up your mind. 9 Be sad and sorry and weep. Stop laughing and start crying. Be gloomy instead of glad. 10 Be humble in the Lord's presence, and he will honor you. 11 My friends, don't say cruel things about others! If you do, or if you condemn others, you are condemning God's Law. And if you condemn the Law, you put yourself above the Law and refuse to obey either it 12 or God who gave it. God is our judge, and he can save or destroy us. What right do you have to condemn anyone?
James 4:1-12
Memory Verse
1 Peter 5:8
8 Be on your guard and stay awake. Your enemy, the devil, is like a roaring lion, sneaking around to find someone to attack.
Can you think of a time when you REALLY wanted to do something you knew was wrong? How did you stop yourself? Maybe you didn’t stop, and so you ate someone else’s cookie, or said hurtful words, or stole someone else's stuff!
The Apostle Peter compared temptation to a hungry lion. “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). With a predator like that around, you’d want to have a good alarm system.
The good news is that God gave each of us an inside alarm called a conscience. This internal voice helps us weigh right from wrong. When tempted by sin, we can listen to our conscience and ask God’s Spirit to help us choose what’s right. The more often we do this, the more Satan’s power fades. But when we don’t listen to our conscience and instead choose to do what is wrong—it’s like walking straight toward a lion with a warning siren blaring in our ears. Things are gonna get worse, fast! Think about the temptations you face in your life. When do you feel most tempted to choose what is wrong? How can you better pay attention to your conscience in those moments?
Prayer
God, my protector, help me listen and follow the inside alarm you’ve created in me. Help me choose what is right, even when Satan is prowling around tempting me to sin. Amen.Related Resources
Ron VandenBurg
Senior Producer of Children’s Ministry at ReFrame Ministries
Ron VandenBurg joined the ReFrame Ministries team in 2014. He plans and develops projects specifically for the spiritual formation of children. Before coming to ReFrame, Ron taught middle-school for 27 years. Ron completed a M. Ed. degree in Teaching, Learning and Development at Brock University. Ron and Rachel have three fantastic adult children and one grandchild and reside in Ontario.