Quickly, for your information, the first part of this article discusses JFL, FFF, and Bible study, whereas the second part delves into something I found really worthwhile from the passage used in said Bible study.

Yesterday night, I led a Bible study for our weekly youth group FFF (Friday Night Fellowship, sic), since we are now switching over to completely officer-run programs this semester due to much complaining. I think I did okay. No, it was not that great, but I think I’ve learned from it, and it’s a nice, somewhat fun thing to do. So, hopefully, I’ll do a better job next time. Hopefully, also, to keep things exciting, someone else will pick up the job next time we’re having Bible study for FFF. But really, it’s pretty cool. It’s neat doing stuff like this, and I encourage others to try the same.

However, there’s still a component of Bible study that I think is really good that I couldn’t really draw out of people. Maybe I just didn’t select a good enough passage, but I thought people weren’t thinking deeply enough about it. Some did, which I thought was good, but when one runs a Bible study, it’s nice when more than just a few people really put some thought into their reading of it and offer excellent commentary and inquiries of their own. For example, I chose Galatians 6:1-10, and Ben pointed out that verses 6-8 were pretty interesting and somewhat confusing ones that needed deeper thinking. I thought it was pretty cool that we both came to the same confusion (for lack of a better word) in the passage. I wish more people probed the passage like that though, since it helps develop understanding of the Bible and God’s Word in general (and also thinking, logic, and comprehension skills). I suppose I can re-emphasize it next time.

Oh well. I think of this FFF programming by JFL officers as a work in progress, which we’ll try to improve throughout the year.

Well, in any case, by chance, in this passage we studied that I randomly came across while digging around the epistles, I found something extremely relevant to my life:

Let us not grow tired of doing good, for in due time we shall reap our harvest, if we do not give up. (Gal 6:9)

I think this is a call by St. Paul to optimism in doing good things. That is, even if we do good things and see no immediate benefits, we should continue doing good things because, at least, eventually, there will be benefits— eventually, we’ll “reap our harvest,” after “sow[ing] for the spirit” (Gal 6:8). And so, all the good we do is truly meaningful, and we should never be disappointed and “give up” if good seemingly comes to nothing, because it never comes to simply nothing.

Indirectly, this is somewhat like saying that we should keep our faith strong, no matter what, that even if good doesn’t appear because of our goodness, we should still believe strongly in God. And I think strong belief in God is a great deterrance to sinfulness, because believing in God and all things associated with him will and should make one value loving others (and fearing hell). So, in just a few verses, St. Paul rather beautifully encourages the early Christians of around 54 AD to avoid all evil, by proactively continually doing good things and remaining strong in God. This is, of course, easily applicable to “modern” people, including you, the reader, and me, and I think this is a great starting point and tenet for the new year, at least for me. Happy new year! =)