The Schelbs

Last night we had 4 girls show up for our summer series...5 if you count the lady in the pool who listened to half the lesson (more on her in a bit).

Yesterday was the first half of a two-part lesson on Mary, Jesus' mother. We talked about Mary's purity this week. Next week will be on her faith. To introduce the topic we talked about all the acne and face cleansers on the market. We looked at why people don't like pimples and blemishes on their face. We are told we have to strive to look perfect. This transitioned into talking about the fact that just like we don't like facial blemishes, we shouldn't be content with character blemishes. Our lives should be clean and pure - without blemishes. We looked in Luke 1. As we read in Luke 1:37 twice it said Mary was a virgin which is a dead give away to her purity, at least in terms of her choices regarding sex. We continued reading and looked at verse 28 which says, in basically one breath, Mary is highly favored, blessed among women, and the Lord is with her. We talked about how being told these things was also an indicator of Mary's purity. She lived a life worthy of being highly favored and blessed among women. Even though she wasn't perfect, because she was human, she lived a life of holiness seeking to do God's will and honor him. Her life was without blemish.

We then transitioned into how we can live lives of purity like Mary did. We discussed the impact of choices (music, clothing, speech, actions, etc.) and our motives behind why we do certain things. More often than not, our motives are more important than the actual music, clothes, or word choices. It's easy to have something we say come off wrong periodically, but if our motive was impure that's when we sin. It's easy to buy clothes and not realize how short or tight something looks until we put it on again at home. But if we continue to wear it, are our motives pure? Part of accepting our royal status in Christ, is being willing to make the commitment to be pure in all aspects of our lives.

Oh, and about the lady. She was swimming in the pool and when we gathered around to start our lesson she exclaimed, "You're studying the Bible by the pool!? What religion are you that allows you to study the Bible by the pool at sunset and not have to be in a church?" I explained we were Baptists and she thought that was neat. Then, when we read verse 28 about Mary being highly favored, having the Lord with her, and being blessed among women, she said "I wouldn't mind those things being said about me!" Hopefully she'll be back next week to learn more :)