Grove Kids -October 2, 2022
Cliffhanger: The Story Isn't Over
This Month’s Memory Verse:
“Let us not become tired of doing good. At the right time we will gather a crop if we don’t give up.” Galatians 6:9, NIrV
This Month’s Virtue:
Grit—Refusing to give up when life gets hard
Down in a Hole
Joseph Sold by Brothers and Joseph in Jail | Genesis 37, 39–40
For week one, we pick up God’s Big Story in Genesis 37, 39-40. We learn how Joseph was his father, Jacob’s, favorite son. Joseph’s brothers were completely jealous—with their jealousy fueled by Joseph’s dreams that had them bowing down to him. They decided to get rid of Joseph and sell him to a band of traders headed to Egypt. They covered up their actions by lying to Jacob and telling him that Joseph had died. But even though Joseph was enslaved in Egypt, God continued to show up in Joseph’s life and help him become successful—both in Potiphar’s house, and even in prison after he was falsely accused.
I can trust God no matter what.
Bottom Line
Hold on because God is with you.
As we introduce the idea of grit to our kids, we want them first and foremost to understand that the best way to have grit is by trusting God. God has been faithful to so many people throughout history. God will be with us no matter what we face. We may not understand why we must go through a hard season, but we can trust that God is with us and will give us what we need to keep going.
Message to Parents
You won’t find the word grit in a credible English translation of the Bible. But it’s there nonetheless.
The Bible’s terms for grit are steadfastness (1 Corinthians 15:58) and endurance (Luke 21:19). Steadfastness is the determination to remain at your post come what may. Endurance is the determination to keep moving toward your desired goal despite external challenges and internal weariness.
The Bible is replete with gritty examples from, Noah building a huge ship over decades as he waited for the fulfillment of God’s promise –
to Moses leading the recalcitrant Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years as he waited for the fulfillment of God’s promises.
And Jesus. Jesus, the man of such sorrows as we’ll never know, who in the garden, facing a horror that only God could experience, said to his Father, “not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:36) and moved with relentless determination to the cross. Never has more grit for the sake of love ever been seen.
But this biblical grit differs from worldly, bootstrap-variety grit in a crucial way. Biblical steadfastness and endurance has, at its core, a faith that rests on the promises of God and therefore is full of hope (Romans 15:13). True godly grit is able to strive hard and stand fast because it is empowered by God’s grace. That’s why Paul could say things like, “I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10).
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