Who am I and what am I?
Am I an animal? a vegetable? a mineral? a person?
A person is one who has a body, bones, blood, a brain—along with many other things.
Do you have a body? Bodies come in different sizes and shapes (short, tall, skinny, fat), but do you have one?
Do you have bones? Can you feel any of them? Do you have a skull? Can you feel your skull?
In your skull, do you have a brain? Animals have brains also. Has God given you a better brain than your pet dog or your pet cat or your pet turtle?
Do you have blood? Can you see some of your veins on your arms or hands? Do you have a heart? Do you know where it is located? Can you feel it thumping?
Do you have muscles? Do you know the names of any of them (biceps, triceps, etc.)? If you raise your hand in class or pick up your pencil, are you using muscles?
Do you have nerves? If you pinch yourself, does it hurt? If you bite your tongue, do you feel pain?
The body is a wonderful thing. David once said, "I will _______________ Thee; for I am fearfully and W___________________ M__________" (Psalm 139:14). And yet, as you think about your body, are you more than just a body? Do you have a soul (see Matthew 10:28; Mark 8:36)? Is there a real person who lives in your body? If you lost an arm or a leg in an accident, would you still be the same person? If a doctor had to remove one of your lungs, would you still be the same person? If you were blind, would you still be the same person?
As a person, do you have a will? Do you make choices and decisions? Suppose your teacher tells you to hold up a piece of paper, and you obey. Why did you do this? Did someone else force you to do it or did you choose to do it yourself? Do you ever choose not to do certain things? Have you made a decision to receive Christ as your personal Saviour? Have you made a decision to reject Christ as your personal Saviour?
As a person, do you have emotions (feelings)? Are there times when you feel sad, mad, or glad? Are there times when you laugh and times when you cry? Could you stand before your Sunday School class and keep a straight face and not smile even though all of your classmates would be making funny faces at you? Have you ever felt embarrassed? What has been your most embarrassing moment?
As a person,
do you have an intellect (the ability to think and reason and use your
mind)? What is 20 minus 2 divided by 9? ________ How did you get this answer?
Could a horse figure that out? If a car can travel 30 miles with one gallon of
gas, how many gallons would be needed to travel to a place 45 miles away?
_________ Did you have to think to get this answer? What man never had a father
and never had a mother (Genesis chapters 1 and 2)? _______________ When this man was one day old did he
look like a baby or did he look like a full grown man? __________________ To
answer these questions you must use, your intellect!
We have thought about who we are and what kind of person we are. Now we want to think about where we are in time. We also want to think about where we have been and where we are going.
Think about a baby. What is a baby like? How does a baby act? How does a baby spend his time? Were you a baby?
Think about a four or five year old. What is this young child like? Do you have brothers or sisters of this age? How do they act? Were you four years old once?
Think about someone in first, second or third grade. What is this person like? How do they act? What do they enjoy doing? Not too long ago, were you in this age group?
Think of your own age group (4th, 5th, 6th grade). What are you and your classmates like?
Think of teenagers. What are they like? What are some things that they enjoy doing? Do you have brothers or sisters who are teens? Will you be a teenager?
Think of young adults. Do you know people who are going to college? What are they like? How do they spend their time? Do you know of other young adults who have jobs? Will you be a young adult?
Think of older adults like your parents. What are they like? What do they enjoy doing? How do they spend their time? Think of elderly people like your grandparents. What are they like? What do they enjoy doing? How do they spend their time? Will you be older and old like them?
As we think about where we have been and where we are right now and where we are going, it helps us to see our movement and our growth in time.
| Growing up! |
 |
How did you get from birth to age four? Was it a big struggle to grow into a four-year-old? What major problems did you face back then? How did you get from age four to age seven? How did you manage to do that? Was it a struggle? What great problems did you face in growing up to age seven? How did you get from age seven to where you are now? How did you do it?
Let’s look ahead. How are you going to go from where you are now to being a teenager? How are you going to go from a teen to a young adult? How are you going to go from a young adult to an older adult?
In all of this God has a purpose and a plan. God knows all about being born and living and growing. This is His plan for people (see Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). It’s God’s will for you to grow up and move on in life. God wanted you to be born and He wanted you to be a four year old and He wanted you to be a seven year old and He wants you to be the age you are right now! And God has a purpose and a plan for the rest of your life. As you go from one year to the next, God loves you and cares about each day and each step you take. God is involved in every birthday you have! God is involved in every day of your life.
Can you go forward and grow up to be all that God wants you to be and all that you should be? The answer is yes, and here are the reasons:
1) You have come this far already! God has brought you to this place in time. You are a person and God’s normal process for all persons is that they grow up. Even unsaved people must grow up and become older and go down the road of time.
2)
You can trust God for His design and plan as you look ahead to each new
day. You can walk with God and trust Him and let Him take you down the road of
time. He’s the great S_________________ (Psalm 23:1) who can meet your needs as
you go down life’s road and He is the God who is able to order your S___________
(Psalm 37:23). As you go through the 4th, 5th and 6th
grades and through your teen years, you do not have to walk alone. The Lord
Himself is there! He’s even there before you get there! See Philippians 1:6 and
John 10:4.
An Example To Learn From
There is a rare childhood disease called progeria. This is an unusual genetic disease that produces rapid aging in children. It makes a child grow old much faster than normal. This means that an eight year old boy would be tiny, wrinkled and bald like an old man. How would you like to look like a very old person at age eight? Usually people with this disease do not live very long.
A girl named Meg had the disease. When she was 26 years old she looked very old, but she was alive and happy. Her desire was to meet with younger people who had the same disease and encourage them. Here’s what she wanted to tell them when she saw them:
"Hi. I’m Meg. I’m here. I’m 26. I’ve been very happy and you can be too!"
She wanted to give hope and happiness to others who had the same disease!
Here is a girl who had a growing up experience that was very different from yours. For her, to live one year was like living ten years. But what did she do? Did she give up? Did she commit suicide? Did she decide to be miserable all her life? Did she look in the mirror every day and feel sorry for herself? No! She decided to grow and live and be happy!
If Meg can face life in such a way, should not we be able to? If she is able to face each new day, should not we be able to do the same?
For how many years did the woman in Luke 8:43 have a physical problem? _______________ What about the man in John 5:5? ________ Read Acts 3:2 and 4:22. How long was this man crippled? __________ These three people had to go down the road of time also.
As we think about these unusual physical problems and diseases, should we not thank our God for the health we have? Should we not thank Him that we can be alive and happy at whatever age we are, no matter what problems we might face?
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