J-O-Y!~

Phil 2 Real Life Joy

Children learn an acronym and recite it: J-O-Y which translates to Jesus first, others second, yourself last. We all need to use that in our witness and our everyday life. Paul wanted his precious Philippians believers to “recite” this in real life scenarios. He wrote to the church: “each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself.” [Phil 2:3b] Further, he used the example of Christ who although he had the rights to be King of Kings, he chose instead to be a servant,which he demonstrated by washing the feet of his disciples. As he finished this task he said: “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you too ought to wash one another’s feet.” [Jn 13:14]

Paul continued:“You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had,” [Phil 2:5] He lived by the J-O-Y principle and we are to do the same.

Where do we encourage children to demonstrate the JOY principles through their humble “washing” of another’s feet? It might be helping another child to work on a perplexing problem or sending a note of encouragement or just obeying. Help children to look around and see what they could do for another.