What I want

In the movie Bruce Almighty, there’s a scene where Bruce is talking to God. God has given Bruce the job of being God for a short time. Bruce can’t handle all the prayer requests so he simply says yes to everyone’s request. Chaos and pandemonium is the result. In this scene Bruce tells God that he gave everyone what he wanted. God replies, “since when has anyone ever had a clue about what they really wanted?”

That movie scene keeps coming to mind as I consider the text our teens will look at in RAMP groups Sunday night. James 4:1-12 opens with James examining our motives for what we desire and the consequences. He challenges his readers to quit being so selfish. This text is on the heals of his challenge to seek godly wisdom. If you remember, godly wisdom is based on pure motives. It seeks the good of others first. So, in RAMP groups students will look at this text and ask some questions about what they desire and why they desire it. I encourage you to talk with your teen about submitting our desires to God’s desires for us. A couple of questions you could discuss include:

What does it mean to submit our desires to God?

How are we at putting the needs of others in our family before our own?