Read: 1 John 2:15-17; 4:1-6

“C’mon, guys!” Lara jumped into the pool. “Let’s make a whirlpool!”

“Ooh! Yeah!” Her brother Jerome pushed his goggles up onto his forehead.

“A world pool?” Four-year-old Emelia, the youngest of the seven siblings, hung onto the ladder and scrunched her forehead.

“A whirlpool, Lia. It’s where we go around and around until we make a current,” Lara explained. “I’ll piggyback you, okay?”

“Okay.” Emelia leapt onto Lara’s back.

They all went around and around and around, until Imogene decided she was going to go the other way.

“Aaahhh! Help!” She giggled. “I can’t…move!”

Lara turned and braced her feet, laughing. “I can’t either!”

“Look! I’m swimming in place!” Jerome paddled furiously. “I…can…almost…reach…the wall! There!”

Momma, who’d been watching from the deck, stood up. “Who wants a snack?”

“Me! Me! Me!” everyone chorused.

“All right.” Momma opened the cooler. “Come on out and have a granola bar, and then you can go back in.”

They clambered out and dangled their legs in the water while they ate.

“You know,” Momma said after a minute, “you kiddos making a whirlpool made me think about how we as Christians have to live.”

“I hope we don’t go around in circles.” Lara frowned.

“No, I was thinking more about the current you made. It was hard to go against it once you really got it going, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Imogene grinned. “I couldn’t get anywhere!”

Momma nodded. “The world around us makes a current, and it can be very hard not to go along with it. But we as Christians are called to live another way—we’re called to trust and obey Jesus and follow His way of truth and love in the Bible. If we try to live that way on our own, it’s like you trying to go against the whirlpool—you can’t get anywhere.” Momma smiled. “Thankfully, Jesus doesn’t leave us to swim against the current on our own. He supplies us with His own strength and grace. And if we’re relying on Him as we go against the world’s current, His love will become evident in us.”

–Ellie Shirk

How about you? Have you ever made a whirlpool? It’s difficult to go against a strong current in the water, and it can be even harder to go against the world’s current. But God will always give us the strength we need to stand against the world’s ways and follow Jesus instead. Trust Him to help you follow the way of Jesus in this world so others can see His truth and love in your life.

Today's Key Verse: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2 (NKJV)

Today's Key Thought: Follow Jesus, not the current