THINK TOGETHER.
Do you know what your name means?
READ TOGETHER
Proverbs 22:1. A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.
When this proverb talks about having a good name it does not mean the name your mother and father gave you at birth. My first name is Brady, a name that I never liked growing up because people found all kinds of ways to make fun of it. Do you like your name? I hope so.
But even more important than your name is your character, and that's what this proverb is about, having character and integrity. That means that when people hear your name and think about you, they think about someone who is kind, and honest, and who does what is right. Having good character is far better even than being rich the proverb says (sadly, not very many people actually believe this).
The truth is that as we grow up, more and more we will have to choose between riches and character. Which do you think is more important? Let me ask you, would you rather your mom or dad worked at night and made more money, or that they kept their promise to come to your game that night? Would you rather have a friend who showed off all their expensive video games but was mean when he played them, or a friend who was nice but didn't have any video games?
The great thing about Jesus is that he always cares more about our character than about how much money we have or how much stuff we own. The even better thing about Jesus is that he cares so much about our character that he is willing to live in our hearts in order to change us and make us more and more like himself. He even gives us his name – Christian. Now his character is becoming our character.
Because of Jesus we have his character growing inside of us.
With Jesus we can choose character over money and things.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
If you never have, look up what each of your names means. Does your name reflect good character? Talk about how we all have the name Christian when we trust Jesus. He will make us a "little Christ" like himself by his love.
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, continue to give me your character and integrity as I learn to trust you more and more. Amen.
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