Week 23 - People might seem like Enemies

“This is going to be a great day," Christian thought when he opened his eyes. But waking up seemed only the only thing that was great that day for Christian Brown.

Christian started his day happy like usual. He liked mornings, and this Wednesday morning was bright and sunshiny. But trouble started when Christian got into the front seat of the car.

Sometimes Christian's big sister Dori could be cranky, and today was one of those cranky days. Usually Christian and Dori took turns riding next to mom on the way to school, but Dori had ridden in the front seat the last two days.

Dori opened the car door and glared at Christian. “What are YOU doing up here?”

“Well,” Christian said, “you sat up here the last two days and I figured that...”

Dori interupted Christian. "You don't even qualify to sit in the front seat."

“What do you mean, 'qualify’?”

“Can't you read? The visor says that children under twelve aren't qualified to sit in the front. You're too little, so get out of my seat!"

Christian felt like yelling back at her. It wasn't fair. Mom had let him sit in the front seat lots of times! Dori just wanted it for herself and didn't care about being fair and taking turns. But for some reason he felt like it would be wrong to fight with his sister, so he mumbled, "Alright" and slid into the back seat.

At school, the bad day got worse. Christian's friends didn't seem like they wanted to talk to him, and the kids at the water fountain all walked away as soon as Christian got in line. "That's weird," Christian thought. "Yesterday was normal. What changed today?" During class, Christian noticed that some of his friends were wispering to each other and occassionaly glancing his way. He decided to figure out what was so weird at lunch.

Christian got his food and then carried the tray to sit next to Dimitri. Dimitri packed food from home—his mom was from Greece and she made real Mediterranean food. Sometimes Dimitri would share his hummus or olives.

“Hey, Dimitri, got any olives today?”

"Nope, just Cheetos." Dimitri kept chewing his food, and he didn't look at Christian.

After a couple minutes, Christian decided it was time. "Why is everyone being so weird today? It's like no one wants to talk to me."

Dimitri took a handful of Cheetos and shoved them into his mouth.

"Come on, Dimitri," Christian said, " You've got to tell me."

Dimitri stopped chewing, looked around, and then whispered, “Somebody said that you cheat on every science test, and that's why you get such good grades."

Christian was shocked. Cheat on every test? He spent hours every week studying for science. He only got good grades because he worked really hard. Someday, he'd even hoped to be a scientist! Who was telling this big fat lie about him?

"At first, I thought that it was true," Dimitri said, "But after thinking about it, I remembered how hard you work to get good science grades. I tried to stick up for you, but nobody wanted to listen to me."

“Thanks for trying," Christian said. His stomach hurt. He didn't feel like eating any more food.

Later that night, the Christian and Dori finished dinner and were getting ready to ride the bus to Truth Group. “Are you ready to go?” It was Christian’s mom calling up the stairs.

“I just have to grab my verse sheet!" Christian looked everywhere—inside his Bible, under his bed—but he couldn't remember where he'd put it. Everything was going wrong today!

"You'll have to go to church without it!" Mom sounded stressed. "Get your coat on and get on the bus."

Christian and Dori were the first ones on the bus, and Christian found a seat in the back. The next kid to get on was a neighbor named Chuck. He wasn’t always nice to be around, but Christian tried to be friendly to him because he knew that kindness pleased God. Chuck walked to the back and sat next to Christian.

“Hey, Christian, do you like going to Truth Group every week?”

"Yeah," said Christian.

“You don’t sound so sure." Chuck had a sneaky smile on his face.

“Well, sometimes I guess I’d rather not go, but I'm always glad I did. Besides, I know God wants me to go to Truth Group."

“I’ve got an idea,” Chuck said. Christian was already feeling uneasy. Chuck looked around to make sure they were alone. Dori was up in the front, and the Teachers were up with her. Chuck leaned closer to Christian. “I’ve got a friend who lives across the street from the church. He just got a new video game, and when we get to the church could slip out of the bus and go play it with him!"

As much as Christian loved playing video games, he knew that this was bad advice. “Chuck, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s not right. We have to stay at Truth Group, and sneaking off like that could be really bad. What if you go play the game with him tomorrow!

Chuck didn’t like that idea. “Naw, man! Don't mess this up! What’s your problem? No one cares what we do.”

“You know it’s not right to skip church!”

Chuck glared at Christian. “Fine. See if I ever include you in my fun!” Chuck raised his hand and called up to the teachers, "Can I switch seats when the bus stops?"

Christian was so bewildered and confused! Why was everyone against him today? What was going on?

At Truth Group, Christian decided to ask his teacher at Table Time about his bad day. He told his teacher about all the terrible things that had happened. He talked about Dori and how she had tried to pick a fight with him about who sat in the front seat; he talked about the rumor that someone had started about him at school; and then he talked about how Chuck had tried to get him to skip church.

“Wow, you’ve had quite a day!” His teacher looked concerned.

“Why is everyone against me today?” While retelling the story, Christian had started to get upset again. His face was red, and he'd clenched his fists. "I didn't do anything to make them my enemy!"

Christian's teacher smiled at him. "Christian, you can’t control what other people do, but you can control how you respond to them. It sure seems like Dori, your friends and school, and Chuck decided that it was ‘Let’s Make Christian our Enemy Day.’"

The teacher looked at the other two boys at the table. "Do you guys ever feel like people are choosing to be your enemy when you didn't do anything to them?" The other boys nodded.

Christian's teacher turned to Christian. "Your sister tried to get you to argue with her, but you didn’t argue back. I’m proud of you for that. The kids at school believed lies about you, but you didn't get mad at them. I'm proud of you for that too. Chuck tried to get you to disobey and skip church, but you didn't give in. You know, somebody else in the Bible didn't give in when He was tempted. He didn't yell at the people who told lies about him. He didn't argue with the people who picked fights with Him. You know who that was?"

One of the other boys looked up from his coloring page. "That was Jesus."

"Right. Jesus cared for people, even if they were His enemies. He asked God to forgive them, even while they were pounding the nails into his hands and hanging Him on the cross."

“But I’m not trying to have any enemies!” Christian responded, “I just want people to like me just like I thought they always did!”

Christian's teacher took Christian's Bible and turned it to Romans 12:21. "Can you read the verse out loud for me?”

"Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."

“You see, Christian, other people will try to be your enemy anywhere you go. It doesn’t matter how old you are either, you will struggle with people being unfair all of your life. You'll probably always have someone who is against you, but if you're mean back at them you'll just be overcome of evil. It won't fix anything, it'll just make more evil. Remember our Bible lesson? Your hate is only the size of a flea. But God wants you to do good and wait for Him to deal with it."

The teacher looked up from the Bible. "But the Lord can help you be good even when it's really hard. God is able to help you do good to all the people who do evil to you. It sounds impossible, but God never tells us to obey Him without helping us do it!”

After a pause Christian said, “I think I get it. If Jesus could forgive the people who wanted to kill him, I can forgive the people who are mean to me. So at school, I can still be kind to the people who are telling lies about me, right?"

"That's right." The teacher grinned. "And since Jesus lives in your heart, He'll help you to show love to them just like He did when He died for them!"

Questions

Christian didn’t try to make enemies, so why were people trying to be his enemy?

• Because Dori wanted her way

• Because the kids at school were gossips

• Because Chuck tried to get Christian to do something wrong

• Because everyone is a sinner and pride makes people not get along

What was one of the people who tried to be Christian's enemy?

• Dori tried to argue with him and she wanted her own way

• The kids at school gossiped and treated him badly

• Chuck got angry with Jake for not going along with the plan to skip church

How should a Christian respond to enemies? What does God say about it?

• God says to love your enemies

• God says to do good to those who hate us (overcome evil with good)

What would Christian do to the people who were mean to him if he wasn't letting God help him do good?

• He would fight with Dori and demand his fair turn in the front seat

• He would yell at the class in school for spreading lies about him

• He would tell Chuck that he wouldn’t be friends with someone who doesn’t like church (or something like that) OR he would go with Chuck to play video games

Why would those responses be wrong?

• Because they would not be showing the love of God that Jesus showed to the world

• It would not be returning good for evil

How did Christian show love?

• by offering Dori the front seat

• by being kind and friendly to the kids at school, even though they don’t deserve it

• by continuing to be friendly and caring to Chuck

Does loving you enemies take a lot of patience? – YES!