Hobbies

the Rev's dog Sarah

the Rev's Fish

During our small group we got sidetracked on to our hobbies. Two students sound like they are really gifted dancers and the other student likes running. My hobbies are fish keeping and my Dog Sarah. It’s great to have a hobby to enjoy.

How belief and values affect the world

We started our small group time with a quiz. First person to guess the person wins. Wrong guesses result in a deduction of -5 points. I am a man in history who believed in evolution and I wanted to produce a superior race by selective breeding. I discriminated against people who were disabled, homosexual and some races. Well done Marina who despite getting two guesses wrong was the first to work out that I was Hitler. He was a man that acted according to his beliefs and values. He believed certain people to be inferior so he killed them to achieve his aims, to impose his values on the world.

What parents worry about

Parents of little kids have to really control everything the child does. When they eat, what they eat and how much they eat. As the child grows parents hope that decision will be based on good values rather than rules. Young adults can easily use their freedom to make really bad choices and this is what frightens parents. Rules are easily ignored when parents aren’t around to keep an eye on things. That is why your values and beliefs are so important because they control the choices you make.

What are your values?

Don’t harm people, equality/respect, don’t steal/honesty, don’t lie, don’t be greedy. These are all good values and beliefs to have and they will help us be better people.

Question

One student pointed out that we don’t always keep our values; we lie, steal and hurt people. Why do we break our values? To protect ourselves, to gain an advantage. When we steal something we hurt someone so that we can get something for free. This means that sometimes we are selfish.

The problem with the world

So the problem with the world is me. I add to the hurts and the pain people experience because I struggle with selfishness. That is why rules don’t work. Something has to change inside us.

God’s values

The Ten Commandments are God’s rules for the world that if obeyed would make this world a much better place. It is interesting that the values the students have are the same as the Ten Commandments. For example God says don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t be greedy, don’t cheat in your relationships, respect your family (parents). God has written his rules on our hearts so that everyone knows what is right and wrong. However, God gives people the freedom to choose and unfortunately many choose to disobey God. That is why the world is in such a mess.

Worry

Somehow we got talking about the topic of worry. Wouldn’t it be good not to have to worry? Often we worry when we have done something wrong or not done something we should have. We feel guilty. Sometimes we worry about things and we can feel angry because we feel out of control. I encouraged the students that they need not have to worry. God loves to forgive those who say sorry, so there is no need to feel angry. God also likes helping people who ask, so there is no need to feel out of control because God will sort it out. The trick to stop worrying is to turn worry into prayer. (Listen to my sermon on worry at www.godsgap.net/noworries).