Week 6 : God So Loved, He Gave

Introduction

This summer reading challenge has flown by!  Can you believe it’s Week 6 already?  (Granted, we did take a week off for the Fourth of July, but that means 7 weeks have passed since we began.)

We’ve covered a lot of ground since we started.  This is true both literally and figuratively; two of us have moved, several of us have travelled across country.  It has been a typical summer full of a busyness and, of course, reading!

As we finish this week, our final theme is God So Loved, He Gave…

Follow along with Wise-Up Chapter 5 (Generous Heart) and  Chapter 12 (God is Love); NavPress  Chapter 4 (Life and Death), Chapter 13 (Wealth and Poverty) and Chapter 15 (Review).

General Discussion Questions

Now that we’ve spent time in Proverbs, how would you describe the main characters in the book you’re reading?  What path are they taking?  Are they honest?  Are they diligent?  

Do the characters in the book you are reading illustrate any of the themes we’ve talked about this summer?

In literature, when one character gives his or her life for the sake of another character, they are called a “Christ figure” since their sacrifice is a reflection of Jesus dying to save His people.  Can you think of a “Christ figure” in literature?                         

In our discussion this week, Betsy says:

Love and generosity go hand-in-hand even though we aren’t all called on to give our very lives for those we love. Unfortunately, our society sometimes twists this biblical idea and implies that romantic love can demand unbiblical “gifts” as “proof” of love. A biblical generous love isn’t motivated by proving its love or earning someone’s love in return; rather, biblical love is motivated by the other’s best interests and spurring him or her on to be more like Christ. Can you think of particular books or movies that show a healthy, biblical picture of generous love—romantically or within the context of family or friendship?

How would you answer Betsy’s question?  What particular books and movies can you think of?  (Make sure to read our answers later this week!)

Last but not at all least, is there one book, movie, or series that came to your mind more than any other this summer as we unpacked these themes from Proverbs?