When I was in third grade, I had two boys threaten to beat me up after school one day.  They were the Ciccarelli twins – tough guys (it still sends a cold chill down my spine even when I type their name!)  I couldn’t understand it.  Why did these boys want to beat up a charming, precious little third-grader (according to my mother)?  It didn’t make sense to me; I barely knew them.  But one thing I knew was that they were going to be waiting for me after school.

And sure enough, after school there they stood waiting.  However, I had all day to think about their threat and I took action.  I rounded up all my friends, and we all walked home from school together.  In fact, we walked right past the Ciccarelli brothers, and they didn’t say a word.

Now, to the point of this story.  Why is it that a third-grader may know how to deal with bullying and opposition better than grown Christians?  What do I mean?  Well, when the Devil begins to pick on some Christians, and make their lives difficult, what’s one of the first things that some Christians do?  They stop attending church services.  They withdraw from everyone.  Instead of drawing on the strength of their brothers and sisters in Christ, they choose to face their enemy all alone.

As a third-grader, I knew that I was going to get “beat up” if I was found all by myself.  So I surrounded myself with friends, and avoided the beating.  Seems there’s a lesson in there for us.

– Steve Higginbotham