Family Worship (July 06)

Have you ever looked in a mirror after eating something messy, like spaghetti, and saw sauce all over your face? Or maybe you had dirt on your cheeks after playing outside. Mirrors show us what we really look like so we can clean up! Did you know God gives us a “mirror” too? It’s the Bible—His Word. When we read it, it shows us what our hearts look like. Today we’ll learn from the book of James how listening to God’s Word and doing what it says can help us become more like Jesus. God wants us to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. He wants us to look in His mirror every day so we don’t forget how much He loves us and how He wants us to live. Let’s see what James says about this amazing mirror!

James 1:22-25 (NIV)
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.”

Discussion Questions

1. Why do you think it’s silly to look in a mirror and forget what you look like?
2. How does the Bible help us see what’s in our hearts?
3. What is one way you can listen to God’s Word and do what it says this week?

Activity
Grab a mirror and let each family member look into it. Make silly faces together! Then, read James 1:22-25 again. Talk about how the Bible is like a mirror for our hearts. Next, have everyone draw a heart on a piece of paper and write or draw one way they want to listen to God better this week—like being kind, patient, or telling the truth. Hang your hearts somewhere you’ll see them every day as a reminder.

Prayer
Dear God, thank you for giving us your Word to show us who we really are. Help us listen to you and do what you say. Please make our hearts more like Jesus so we can show your love to everyone around us. Amen.

Memory Work

New City Catechism
27. Are all people, just as they were lost through Adam, saved through Christ?
No, only those who are elected by God and united to Christ by faith. Nevertheless God in his mercy demonstrates common grace even to those who are not elect, by restraining the effects of sin and enabling works of culture for human well-being.

Memory Verse
John 10:10 (ESV)  
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”