What Are You Going to Be?
However your family responds to the cultural event that is Halloween, younger kids will be hearing the question all week long this week: “What are you going to be?”
Kids old enough to choose seem to pick costumes based on one of three factors. Either they want something scary. Or they want something funny. Or—more often for younger kids—they want to dress up like one of their role models or dream roles.
Athletes. Fire fighters. Princesses. Fictional heroes or villains. They want to inhabit the person or persona they dream of becoming—even if that role model changes several times each day.
In a way, the Bible encourages this kind of lifestyle role playing. The essence of Christianity is that we are growing to become like Jesus, we are to put on His qualities because we are becoming Him.
But Paul also told his readers to imitate his own life in their beliefs and choices. And at the end of Colossians 4, he presented his entourage, naming eight or so of the guys who were with him in ministry to hold them up as role models of faithful service to Christ.
Our prayer as parents isn’t just that our kids won’t take off after unworthy role models, but that they will get attached to the good ones—and that’s what we’re looking for a chance to talk to them about this week.
Talking Points
- When you were younger, who were some of your biggest heroes? Was there anyone you really liked to dress up as and pretend to be for a while?
- Who would you say are your role models or heroes right now? Who are some of the people you know—or people you don’t know—that seem to have the life you’d really like to have someday? [Parent: This would be a great time to talk about some of the heroes and role models you had when you were younger.]
- How do you think most people choose their role models? What really attracts us to want to be like someone?
- Take your top two or three favorite role models or people or personalities: What do you like best about them? What qualities do they have that you would like to get better at in your own life?
- Have you noticed with your friends that role models can sometimes have a bad influence on people? How could a role model become a negative in a person’s life?
- Philippians 2 tells us to take on the heart and mind of Jesus. Paul wrote that his readers should try to imitate the way he followed Jesus. And Peter told younger Christians to learn from older mentors. Who in your life that you know personally might count as a mentor or a role model?
- What about that person do you find interesting or challenging or attractive? What qualities do they have that you hope to have one day?
- Who are some people you know—even if you’ve just met them once or twice—who seem to have a really genuine faith in Jesus that shows up in their lives in a real, meaningful, and attractive way?
- Can you separate what you take away from role models into different categories? Can you study the life of a good athlete to learn how to get better at that sport and also study the life of a good Christian mentor to learn how to get better at following Christ?
- What are the down sides of getting too attached to one person or another as a role model? [Parent: Emphasize that all people make mistakes, that if we’re most concerned with following people we can end up following them off the path of Jesus.]
- What is the advantage to finding successful people in our lives to use as a pattern for making good choices? [Parent: Emphasize that if our main goal is to follow Jesus, good role models can help us learn the everyday skills involved in following Him.]
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