Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Extra Helps #11 - Sometimes We Forget



Sometimes we forget.  Occasionally, I will see a mother in a mall or walking down the street, holding her child's hand, walking somewhere in a hurry. Trying to keep up with Mom as fast as they can, the child's little legs are walking three times faster than those of the mother's. We forget that our children's legs are shorter than ours!

Frequently, I will hear a mother talking to her young child, using a very intelligent word that an adult would need to pause to define. Looking at the child's puzzled face, we forget that our children's vocabulary is not quite as large as ours.

Have we ever told our child to "fold it and put it in the drawer," only to be frustrated when we see how it was folded and put in the drawer? We forget that our children's definitions are not quite the same as ours.

That same 'forgetfulness' may apply to Bible class. Perhaps we hastily write a verse we are referring to in the lesson on the whiteboard, for example...2 Chron. 7:13-15. We, as adults, may know that the "2" stands for the "second book", "Chron." is shortened for the book of "Chronicles," the "7" means the seventh chapter, the "13" refers to the thirteenth verse, the "-" says to include all the verses between numbers, and the "15" tells us at what verse to stop. The important question is: Do your students know what that abbreviation means? Have you taken the time somewhere along the way to explain that Bible verses can be abbreviated and how to decipher them? We forget that our Bible students' knowledge might not be able to decipher the same 'code' we have used for many years. Let's take time to teach Book, Chapter, and Verse to our students, teaching them how to read abbreviated verses. Where else can they learn these important facts, but from their Bible teacher?  Let's give them the tools they need to gain Bible knowledge!