Archive for the ‘Growing in the Lord’ Category

Ask yourself these questions. Seriously, all of them. Take a minute to think about them.

With which are you absorbed?

1. (A) Your personal righteousness, or (B) the vicarious righteousness of Christ?
2. (A) The condition of your faith, or (B) Christ’s faithful obedience on your behalf?
3. (A) Your self-crucifixion, or (B) His crucifixion?
4. (A) Your new life, or (B) His sinless life?
5. (A) Your experience of Christ, or (B) His experience for you?
6. (A) Your love for God, or (B) His love for you?
7. (A) The depth of your personal surrender, or (B) the depth of Christ’s personal surrender?
8. (A) Your victorious life, or (B) His victorious life on your behalf?
9. (A) Your attainment, or (B) His atonement?
10. (A) The work of the Spirit in you, or (B) the work of Christ for you?

The right answers are obvious, but what’s under the skin?

My first reaction to these: Wow! Oh my! It’s incredible how I can be caught up in “spiritual things” but still not have the right focus.

Great reminders–props to Lex for sharing.

I’m a workaholic. Just ask my wife.

She’ll tell you about the countless times I make us just a few minutes late, or how she’s usually the one waiting for me to get ready for bed, because I want to “get a few more things done.”

As I spend time with youth pastors and others that love youth ministry, I find that similar urge, that drive to do something. We just look at each other and there’s this common understanding: “God has worked miracle after miracle in my life and satisfied my soul. My students–and their friend–need to know the truth, and I’m going to do whatever it takes.”

The crazy thing is that I find myself believing that the harder I work, the bigger difference I will make in students’ lives. That’s when I loose direction and get burned out. (Hebrews 10:18-22 is a shocking reminder of the intimacy we are called to have with God.)

It’s times like these I forget that it’s God who moves in people’s hearts and changes their lives–not all my work and good ideas.

So I’ve tried to form a few habits in my own life to keep my attitude and heart centered on God.

• Daily Quiet Reflection–Honestly, it looks different every day. Some days, I’ll wake up and lay in bed for 15 minutes, reading scripture. Other days, I’ll enjoy breakfast with the dog on my lap as I pray. And other times, I can’t do a thing until I’ve spent an hour alone with God. No matter the form, the difference it makes on my attitude and my ministry that day is unmistable.
• Days of Solitude–When is the last time you took an entire day to be alone with God, fast, and pray? It’s never easy to plan for, but I’m always glad I did it. It might be every month or every couple of months, but the important part is to make it a habit. I’ve found it’s best to make a small plan, like a few goals about some scriptures to read and what to pray about, but not to be married to those  plans because God might have something completely different for you that day.
• No Strange Expectations–The greatest thing that I’ve seen hinder myself and those closest to me in our times with God are expectations. I’m not talking about expectations of Biblical truth. But sometimes we come to God and expect to “feel” a certain way or “hear an answer” to a specific question. These are expectations we created for ourselves, and we’re disappointed, sometimes even disillusioned when they’re not met. Instead, we should come to God with an open heart and a hunger to learn and grow, not in our own plans, but as He sees fit.

Habits like these are important to strengthen our own walk with God and our ministry, but they are not the bedrock of our faith. The steadfast love of Jesus Christ is our only hope, and our only hope to see ministry happen in the lives of our students.

For many families, this holiday season is a time filled with tension, arguments and frustrations. It’s a sad fact because it has the potential to be such a wonderful time together.

I think it’s a combination of several things coming together: the time they finally get to spend together (with breaks from school and work, families are suddenly thrust together when they used to only see each other briefly between busy schedules), tensions that have been building up over time finally exploding (you only have time to get angry when you see family in passing but little time together to resolve them), and expectations over holiday traditions and schedules (Dad wants to do this, Mom wants to do that, the kids don’t like this or that, and there’s no time for any of it).

Yesterday I was reading the Christmas story and was struck by a passage that I’ve read a hundred times before:

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:13-14, NIV) 

I found myself praying that the peace of God would fill the hearts and homes of families around the world this Christmas. I’ve been praying for Christian families and those that don’t yet know the Lord, that we all would discover the peace that comes only in Christ’s love and sacrifice.

Won’t you join me?

I made a good decision this weekend, but it took me a bit too long to make it. I decided to stop watching a show I used to love.

Several years ago, I went through a real intense growth period in my Christian life. I was learning a lot from the Lord and learning it fast. One of the decisions I made during that time was that I didn’t want to be entertained by things like sexual jokes, adultery, cursing, vulgarity and cruelty. I knew that God had called me to live with purpose and for Him, and I didn’t want anything coming in my way.

Then my friends started telling me how funny this show is. I stayed away from it for a while, but I finally gave in last month. Man did I love that show! I even finished 28 episodes (2 seasons) in less than a month.

Then recently, in passing, I heard someone mention that they don’t watch the show because of all the garbage in it. At first, I was ready to defend it as a “clean” show–there’s nothing vulgar, it’s not that bad. But then I thought about all the stuff I had been entertained by:

• Adultery is completely accepted as normal
• Jokes about sex and body parts happen every few minutes
• A sprinkling of cursing
• Lots of drinking

I realized that all the things I didn’t want to be a part of were now a regular part of my life. So I turned it off and I’m not going back.

As a leader in the body of Christ, living above reproach is not an option to me. I know that the foundation of my ministry isn’t “strategy” or smooth words, but the lifestyle I live.

The Lord commands us to “Be holy, because I am holy” (Lev. 19:2, 1 Peter 1:16), although I still can’t say I understand this completely considering we are saved by grace. But Paul also says that “among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people” (Eph. 5:3). Sometimes choices like this are hard for me to make, but they are important to make.

In youth ministry, I think these hard decisions are even more important. Every student I know watches me like a hawk. They probably know a lot more about me than I realize, and no matter what I tell them, my lowest standard somehow always turns into their highest standard. I’ve never seen “Do what I say, not what I do” work with teens.

So I often ask myself several questions: Are there standards in my life that I’ve let slip? I try ti picture the jokes I laugh at on TV, in movies and at home. Would I be comfortable sharing them in front of students or my pastor? Why or why not?

“So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.”
-1 Corinthians 3:7

Sometimes I wear myself down to the bone trying to make ministry happen. And the result? Hardly anything. All that effort for nothing. I try to be a part of God changing people’s lives and it just doesn’t happen.

One time I put together a special leadership class for a group of students. We got together every week, hung out, played some games, and I taught using my favorite student leadership book (Habitudes). It was fun but I felt like it was a constant struggle to try to actually teach anything–like a wrestling match every week. The group was a challenge to focus and just didn’t seem to engage with the material. It took a lot of work and this day I don’t know if any of them were impacted or changed by the whole thing.

I did everything I was supposed to. I prayed, but I guess you can always pray more. I prepared. I loved on the students. Maybe we should have had a longer class, or played less games, or played more games…

It’s easy to work hard for the sake of ministry, and even easier to think that ministry depends on your hard work. But as soon as we start walking down that path we’re just asking for trouble.

Ministry Isn’t Hard Because It Ain’t Us
When the Lord created us, He gave us each a unique purpose in life. He wants us to learn how to serve Him and be a part of the work He’s doing. But He never meant for us to do it alone. He gave us the ability to work and to work hard, but He never meant for us to do all the work ourselves (John 15:5). If we try it alone we just realize how inadequate we are.

All our hard work, planning, speaking, teaching, mentoring & coaching… All of it is seeds and water. It is the Lord who makes things grow. We can be the absolute best youth pastor in the world, but without Him, it all falls apart. We need Him to take our simple seeds and water to make things grow.

Lord, I pray that you would remind us how much we need you. Show us how we cannot do ministry on our own and help us to depend on you. I pray that you would also bless everything we put our hands to. Let none of it be in vain.

Lord we ask that you would take all of the seeds and all of the water we have tried to pour into students lives and make it grow. Teach them to know you and to live for you. Help them make good decisions and build foundations of godliness in their lives. Develop them as leaders in their own generation, and raise them up to be agents of change in a culture that is so often against You. Lord we are your humble servants. Please teach us Your way. In Jesus’ name, Amen.