Check and Double-Check.

Dodger:  Hey there!  I don't know about you, but my Summer vacation is over...man, I can't believe it zoomed by so fast!

Lilly:  No joke!  It's almost ridiculous how quickly it went by, and I'm full of dread.

Dodger:  Dread?  Why?  I thought you were excited for school.

Lilly:  I was, until I heard about Mr. Scerge.

Dodger:  Mr. Scerge?  What about him?

Lilly:  He's my new science teacher.  I've heard he's the toughest teacher in the whole school.

Dodger:  So?  I thought you liked teachers who stretched your efforts.

Lilly:  I do.  What I don't like is that Mr. Scerge will fail you just for having to get a drink of water in his class.  He also steals your pencils and eats them.

Dodger:  Lilly, that's ridiculous!  Where did you hear all this stuff?

Lilly:  I dunno.  Everyone at school knows.  It was on my Twitter the other day.

Dodger:  Who tweeted it?

Lilly:  Jerry Rigking.

Dodger:  The school bully?  You're letting something he posted on Twitter motivate your entire feelings about going to school?

Lilly:  Well...

Dodger:  Lilly, I don't think Jerry is really your best source for knowing about a science teacher.  Don't you think you'd better find out for yourself?  Maybe look him up online or something?

Lilly:  You think I should?

Dodger:  I do.  We actually have an example from the Bible.  It's not exactly the same situation as yours, but it makes sense to apply it here.

Lilly:  What is it?

Dodger:  It's in Acts 17.  We may have talked about these guys before.

"The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue.  Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. (Acts 17:10-11, ESV, boldface added)"

Lilly:  I'm a little confused.

Dodger:  Basically the Berean Jews wanted to know if Paul was telling them the truth about God.  They wanted to be sure that the Bible confirmed what he was saying, so they looked it up.  I think we let rumor determine way too much of what we do.  What if we did like the Bereans did and checked things before blindly believing them?  That might save us a lot of confusion and trouble, both about school and about God!

Lilly:  Good point...alright.  I'll look up Mr. Scerge before I pass any more judgment on him, and 'll be sure to look at the Bible before I pass judgment on what someone tells me about God.

Dodger:  Nice double whammy.  Well, we have to pack our backpacks back up again and finish some homework.  Thanks for coming by today!  Remember, Jesus loves you, and that's not about to change!

Lilly:  Ciao!



(ESV refers to English Standard Version of the Bible, Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.