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In the World–June 23, 2019

By June 17, 2019June 18th, 2019"In the World"

Download “In the World” for June 23, 2019 here.

PUT AWAY THE SOCIAL MEDIA AND GO DEEP

Many young people today (along with many adults) spend a surprisingly large amount of time on social media sites such as Instagram. Students often feel that if they don’t read notifications and respond right away, they will miss out on something. They see their peers showing only their best side online, and this can lead to negative self-comparisons. A recent article associates all this with drastically increased anxiety and depression in young people, to the point that one expert calls this a “mental health tsunami.” Some schools bring in comfort dogs or yoga teachers in attempts to help students put away false messages about who they are—or aren’t—and become “grounded.”

PUT AWAY THE FALSE TEACHING AND GO DEEP

The church in Colossae needed to put away false messages as well. Paul wrote because false teachers were feeding his readers misinformation that was leading to a drastic increase in anxieties and a rift in the church. These believers were trying to understand whether Jesus really had accomplished everything claimed, or whether there were secrets that Christians needed to receive (from the false teachers) in order to have the best spiritual nourishment. Paul urged them not to be deluded by this teaching but to remember that they had been firmly rooted in God and that in Christ they had been made complete.

  1. Describe a time when you received information that made you almost forget what was true about yourself—what did you do to regain your balance?
  2. How can false teaching increase anxiety in the heart of a Christian, and what can be done to remember that he or she is firmly rooted and complete in Christ?
  3. How can false teaching divide a church, and what can be done to knit hearts back together in love?

Additional Resources

www.standardlesson.com/category/in-the-world
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