Helping a Student Know
Last Wednesday, Derry, at the end of the message portion, offered students the opportunity to respond, by standing, to their recognition of what God was doing in their heart. Many stood in response to the two different opportunities, whether that was to accept a relationship with Him for the first time or to reaffirm a relationship and not the standards of religion. Afterward, I had a leader ask me how to revisit the night, and those decisions, in their small group the next week. I gave her these three pointers:
- The Past: Revisit Where They Have Been- To stand before your peers and recognize God’s effort to draw us in is a huge step in the life of a high school student. Having a student retrace where they have been and the trajectory they were on allows a student the opportunity to put into words the “mess” that they were found in. This is not an effort to condemn that student, but to realize the place and situation that God has “saved” them from. To recognize the majesty in their own depravity.
- The Present: Describe What Happened to Cause Them To Stand- Describing the situation gives them the opportunity to critically think through their decision. Not in an effort to nit-pick the decision and cause a student to doubt what took place. But to process the things that were going on inside of them. Help them isolate their feelings*, thoughts, reaction to truth. In the end, this will help them separate those things when they are listening for the voice of God again. (*This becomes critical in today’s society. Look for a post on this in the coming weeks.)
- The Future: Plot a New Desired Path- Even if this is just, “I want to do what God wants for me in my life,”-type of response, this will open the door to something new for this student. The reality is, their trajectory in life has now changed. While they may not be able to specifically put it into words (truthfully, it is probably better that they cannot) what it is that they want to do, the desire for their trajectory to be in response to this new found relationship is the critical piece. The only way for them to describe their trajectory like that is for them to express it in their own words.
Just some thoughts on how to go about it. The reality is, you are connected to them. You are going to have a better grasp on how to engage them. However, we live in a day and age when flippant responses are more normal than atypical, and feeling-driven decisions are commonplace and not a rarity. Critically thinking through decisions will help prepare your students for a life-long faith based in their own critical thinking.
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What If You Stopped Thinking About It?
Psalm 37:4-6 says, ”Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.” I guess I just wonder what it would mean to commit our ways to the Lord, to trust in him, to take him at his word. To allow him to shine on us and reflect His Glory, reflect His Power, His Presence, shine to all those around us.
What if that crazy idea that you have had in your head was spoken from the mouth of God? And you know it. Are you going to sit around, think about it for a couple days, weeks, months, years, forever…
I’m not sure how I like the word “reckless” here but it sure seems to apply for that person that is constantly “seeking the will of God” in a specific situation.
I’ve been reading through Genesis in an effort to read as much as I can this year. I have been in the midst of Abram’s life as he seeks the place “that God will show him.” I can’t get over the manner that Abram “seeks” the will of God because he doesn’t stop, think about things for a while and then go do it. He hears from God and he just goes. There is something about that that is extremely challenging. I don’t want to be held back from some sort of divine opportunity because I wasn’t sure that it was God.
You know how you can be sure if it was God or not? Read His Word. Listen for His Voice. Go where He tells you to go. Then, trust in His Word.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.t I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” – Jeremiah 29:11-14
“He thwarts the plans of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success.” – Job 5:12
“May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.” – Psalm 20:4
What If You Are Right?
So, what if you’re wrong? But, what if you’re right?
What if that thing that you have been driving toward, that thing that you have constantly been talking about, bringing up and thinking through, what if that is right? What if you are actually dead on with what needs to be done and what should go forth? What are you going to do with that knowledge? What are you going to do with all of that passion that comes behind that “right” idea/answer/thought?
And maybe more than what are you going to do with it, but how are you going to know?
But maybe that’s not the most important question. Cause you know when you know, right?
What If You’re Wrong?
I’ve been told that I don’t like to be wrong; that I like to be right and when I am right I will make sure that you know it. But let’s be honest, Who likes to be wrong? I mean, if we’re honest and look at our lives, do we ever really want to be wrong? we live in a society that is based on the idea of debate and being right. If someone can be right more times than they are wrong, they are a trustworthy person and probably worth more than the person who is always wrong.
And when it comes to “life” things, we are almost conditioned to think that we should never be wrong about things in life, or have any regrets for the things that we have done. To make a bad decision in life is to regret it and to regret anything in life is to admit failure. Lord knows we don’t want that to be the case!
But, what if you’re wrong? What if the things that you thought were right were actually wrong and the way that life is actually isn’t the way it was supposed to be? What if you were wrong?
Sure, I don’t like to be wrong. But maybe that’s ok.
For Me, It’s Only the Church
Yesterday’s post and some other variables have contributed to me really analyzing what I call the church. My job is focused on developing relationships with students and leaders and to help coordinate the programs that are directed toward students and more specifically, high school students. That seems trivial to describe it that way, but I’ve been pretty convicted, lately, on the word “church”.
I, like so many others, would say, “I’m going to the church to meet (fill in the blank).” And it seems like nothing to say that that way, but it means a ton when it jades our view of what the church actually is and how important my view of the church changes how I view the church.
See, of my biggest concerns from yesterday’s post, at the top of that list is a fear that we (younger generations) don’t see the importance of the entirety of the Church. We dismiss the older generations that have relegated themselves to “rules” and “legalism” and fail to experience “grace” and “genuine recognition of their lives.” And the reality is, the moment that I dismiss or even begin to show resentment for that group of people, is the moment that I am the exact person that Paul is speaking about in 1 Corinthians 12 when he talks about dividing the parts of the Body and not finding purpose in being joined to differing parts.
The reality is, the Church is no building. That was a major point to Jesus’ theology as he preached and began to describe his death, resurrection, and Second Coming. When Jesus clears the temple courts in John 2, he specifically says that he can prove his authority by raising up the temple again in three days. The point was, the teachers thought he was talking about the building when he actually was talking about his Body. Later, Peter will relate this temple that is being built up as the people of God, the Body of Christ, into the completed temple that is being rebuilt.
The point of all this is, I’m convicted to end my careless use of a word that is meant to describe something that is infinitely more powerful, uncomprehendingly transformative, and unequivocally more grace-filled, than some empty, groupings of bricks, mortar and metal. The Church is you and me and my grandparents and your cousins and our friends and the homeless man and the girl from Taco Bell.
So, I’ll see ya at the ministry that I work at. Stop by. I’ll be glad to meet you there.
Honestly, I have no idea why this is a big deal to me right now. And I really don’t think this is going to make my life, or anyone else who talks to me about the building, any easier or more accurate. But, I do know this- I want my love for Jesus and my love for his Church to permeate from my soul and my character. And apparently, this is that God wants to challenge me. So, I figured I would share!
What about you? What words are you using to describe things that perhaps should be a different way around?
Friday Feature #2: New Crowder Epic Album
Is it really over? If you can believe it, the David Crowder* Band has performed their last concert and they have produced their last album. And this album is absolutely epic. One of the most creative albums I have ever listened to by one of the greatest pioneers of creative music in Christian music (still not sure what that means).
In other words, this is 34 tracks of absolute greatness. I might be biased as this is probably one of my favorite bands of all time, but seriously, it’s like the guys just said, “We don’t care. It’s our last one. And we are gonna just do whatever!” It’s awesome. They even have a number of songs that are straight bluegrass and best-of-all they are hymns!
Favorite song(s)[In Order of Rank]: After All (Holy); Let Me Feel You Shine; Oh Great God, Give Us Rest; Leaning on the Everlasting Arms/Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus (Medley)
Definitely worth check into. They have even jumped to #1 album on iTunes and remained there for at least 2 days!
