Series: The Judged
Message: None
Preacher: Jessyka Albert
Reflection: Jessyka Albert
Live Wonder: Zan Long
Live Adventure: Zan Long
Live Purpose: Vanessa Rivera
Editor: Becky De Oliveira

Refresh: Begin with prayer. Ask for the Holy Spirit to open your heart to new understanding and for God’s character to be revealed.

Read: Romans 3:9-20 in the New International Version (NIV). Note 1–3 insights or questions. 

Reflect: Paul quotes Isaiah 59 in Romans 3:16: “In their paths are ruin and misery.” Have you ever heard or used the phrase, “It’s like a tornado went through here!”? It is probably most often used in connection with the state of a child or teenager’s room. Picture it: LEGO everywhere, clothes piled on the floor, dirty dishes (and rotting food), crumpled bits homework strewn throughout the mess, and somehow just enough room on the bed to sleep at night. Complete chaos.

I remember these days as a teenager, but once I moved into a college dorm room I changed my tune. I began to care about the state of my room because it was the only space I had to live. I couldn’t go to a well-organized living room or family room or kitchen taken care of by my mom. I took responsibility for my dorm room in a different way than I did my bedroom when I lived at home.

Paul’s quote struck me because it caused me to wonder about whether we leave a tornado behind us as we go through life. Do we “tornado” through our lives and leave destruction in our wake? We can ask ourselves some questions about the impact that we have physically, emotionally, and spiritually:

Physically: How do we care for the earth around us? Do we leave trash at parks, do we go out of our way to recycle, do we care about the environment and the earth God has entrusted to us?

Emotionally: How do we care for the hearts and minds of people around us? Do we spew hurtful words, make snide comments, yell, fight, argue, and demean?

Spiritually: How do we care for those around us on a spiritual level? Do we hold people up to a ruler spelling out the nitty gritty incremental measurements of their compliance with laws, point out their faults, and talk up our own Christian lifestyle without telling them the good new that Jesus loves them and has saved them? That we too are in need of Jesus?

You don’t have to be a tornado to leave destruction in your path. Much destruction can be caused by what we do—and by what we don’t do. By the care we don’t take.

Recalibrate: How has Jesus equipped you to care for the earth and for others? How can we leave people and places in a better state than we found them?

Respond: Ask God to guide you in nurturing the path you walk on rather than destroying it.

Research: We leave a “footprint” in many aspects of life. What are some “footprints” you have left on this world?

Remember: “There is no one without sin. None! There is no one who understands. There is no one who looks to God for help. All have turned away. Together everyone has become evil. None of them does anything good” (Romans 3:10-12, ICB).

Jessyka Albert is associate pastor at Boulder Adventist Church, leading Live Wonder (ages 0-3), Live Adventure (ages 4-11), and Live Purpose (ages 12-17), along with their supporting ministries. She grew up in Washington State and has a degree in theology from Union College in Lincoln, NE. Jessyka has served in various areas of ministry, but her passion for discipling kids has taken center stage in her career.

Find a sand pit or put some rice in a large tray and let your little one play with texture today. Using your finger or a pencil, draw lines in the sand or rice and see if your child notices the trail and if they can trace it with their finger. You can follow their trail and they can follow yours. God knows the way and we can follow His lead.

Make a treasure hunt for your family or friends. Choose where you want to finish first. Then work backwards to where you want the hunt to begin. Make sure your directions point to where players need to go next. Choose rules for your treasure hunt that make the game easy to play for everyone. Play with your family or friends. Remember that God has the ultimate adventure planned out for us.

I spend much of my professional life working with those who are addicted to or dependent on drugs. The battle is intense. Their bodies crave substances. All they think about is using. It can feel as if the cravings and triggers will never go away. Isn’t sinning a similar battle? It can feel like our “nature” is bound to sin and that nothing can help us. We can easily start blaming the fact that we were born into sin and slowly become complacent. Verse 20 is clear when explaining that the law makes us conscious of our sin. The more we understand the law, as well as God’s grace and righteousness, the more we realize that our salvation depends on faith in Him.  Not our parents, teachers, or our church—not even ourselves. Once we understand God’s law, what do we do with that understanding?