JOIN THE JOURNEY JR.
Families Abiding in Jesus together
With shorter reading assignments and kid-specific focus areas, Join The Journey Jr. is designed to help parents disciple their kids and engage with Scripture in the best ways for their age.
This month's memory verse
There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Want weekly retellings of our favorite Bible stories and conversation guides? Listen to the Join The Journey Jr. podcast with the whole family every Monday!
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
2 Corinthians 4
Treasure in Fragile Clay Jars
1Therefore, since God in his mercy has given us this new way,* we never give up. 2We reject all shameful deeds and underhanded methods. We don’t try to trick anyone or distort the word of God. We tell the truth before God, and all who are honest know this.
3If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing. 4Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.
5You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
7We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure.* This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
8We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. 10Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.
11Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies. 12So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you.
13But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, “I believed in God, so I spoke.”* 14We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus,* will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you. 15All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.
16That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are* being renewed every day. 17For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 18So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
Today we are taking a break from Acts to read from another one of Paul’s letters, 2 Corinthians. As you read in 2 Corinthians 4, think about all the context of Paul’s life that you've read about.
He wrote 2 Corinthians after the events of Acts, where he faced hard circumstance after hard circumstance. Take a minute to discuss the various circumstances that you have seen Paul in throughout the book of Acts.
Now, with Paul’s hard journey to Rome in mind, read the passage in 2 Corinthians again. Paul faced circumstances far harder than any of us likely will in his pursuit of sharing the gospel, but he could still write that he was “afflicted but not crushed (verse 8-9).” Paul was confident that the trials he faced on earth were momentary and light compared to the greater glory we will have with God in heaven (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
We've read about how Paul goes through some really hard things in Acts, but we also saw God show up time and time again. God protected Paul against angry crowds and brought Paul safely to shore through dangerous storms. God worked through those hardships and gave Paul a platform to share the gospel with the nations! God took moments that people intended to harm Paul and used them to show his love for us and make Jesus known.
“God we give to you the parts of our lives that feel hard right now. It's easy to believe that you're not in those circumstances, so we thank you for the ways you show us in Paul’s life that you're always present! Please help us to look for you in our hard circumstances, and to always remember the hope we have in you. Thank you, that in Jesus we are never crushed.”