Contrasts

Nurture
Contrasts
by Margaret Parker, Calif (adapted from "Exploring Contrasts" in Student Leadership, Spring 1990, p. 11)

God has inspired the biblical writers to present vivid contrasts--light versus darkness, life versus death, love verses alienation--to highlight the crucial choices before us and help us choose rightly. You can help group members experience the persuasive, lifechanging power of God's Word by focusing their attention on the contrasts in Scripture. For example, with the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) ask people to list every contrast they can find in the passage. Then have them choose one area of contrast and explore it more fully. Be sure people understand that they can use their imaginations to flesh out the various elements of the contrast.

Suppose your group explores the differences between the life the prodigal son led in the far country and the life he found waiting at home. As they imagine what the prodigal must have experienced, they will find the parable draws a sharp contrast between two kinds of partying. The phrases "squandered his wealth in wild living" (v. 13) and "no one gave him anything (v. 16) suggest that in the far country the prodigal tried desperately to buy fun and friends, but instead found only fleeting, dehumanizing pleasures followed by painful disillusionment and abandonment. How different from the homecoming party that greeted his return, where real pleasures (hugs and kisses, new clothes, a great feast, music and dancing) were given freely to the prodigal as expressions of his father's love for him, a love that nothing he had done could ever cancel out. These contrasts can lead to the personal application that our choice is not between partying and God, but between joyful, lasting fellowship and illusory fun.