8th Grade Reflections on John 15

God is moving in and through my 8th graders. Together we read and discussed John 15. The students wrote responses to the passage. They were thoughtful, personal, and beautiful.

• "Verses 4-8 it talk about how you should remain in the Lord, like He does to you. The definition of remain is: to continue to exist after other similar or related people have ceased to exist. When He said that He will remain in you, He meant forever. God is going to stay with your for the rest of your life and hopefully beyond. All He wants, is for you to do the same. You’re already His, and so is every other living/non living thing on this earth, so why not give it back to Him."
• "You may have not wanted God, but He wanted you, and He still does. He’s never done with you, and maybe this is just the start of something amazing for you. He wants you specifically to work in a certain area in the world. It may only affect one person, or it could affect millions. Either way, you are a big and important part of map of what God has planned."
• "God doesn’t call you a servant, but a friend, because He wants your goal to fully know Him, as He fully knows you. He knows your concerns and business and He wants you to make an effort to know His. The Lord tells you everything He can, and it may not be in the most obvious way, but you need to keep your eyes and ears open to be able to understand what He’s saying to you."
• "The passage shows how God helps us by getting rid of all our sin by pruning us. I think this is cool because it helps us to understand how much God loves us. The other thing that stands out to me is that God calls us his friends. That he sees us as friends makes me very happy inside."
• "I think it is amazing that God chose me to carry out what he wants."
• "We talked in class about rose bushes and how they are pruned when parts die. When you prune most plants, the part that was cut blossoms into more fruit than was there before, and then when that spot is  pruned again, it produces even more fruit. Just like how when dead spots in us are pruned, they grow back healthy and blossoming. Although, if rose bushes could feel, the pruning would probably hurt very badly, just like the pruning of our bad spots hurts."
• "I love how God gives us more freedom if we follow him."