Follow God Over Your Heart

School is out for the summer.  That is a good thing, right?   What amazes me is that I have been on Cape Cod for almost 7 years now and have been to a myriad of graduations.  How incredible it is to be a part of so many young lives, whether directly or indirectly.  With graduation also comes a heavy burden.  Here are hundreds of graduates ready to enter college – a time that has not historically been a time of spiritual growth for many.  Today with prevailing relativistic, anything goes,worldviews in control of many colleges, it scares me to think about how many young minds are being led astray.  It reminds me of the importance of being involved in the lives of children, whether our own or ones entrusted to our care.  As I sat in graduation this year I was struck by two prevailing thoughts.   Sure, we all have heard the typical graduation “go conquer the world” speech, but there were two comments that jumped out to me.    It is not that they were wrong.  I just feel they were misrepresented.

Bring it on

No Weapons Formed Against Us

It is amazing when a high school graduate shares a verse from the Bible.  It is underwhelming when they attribute it to an athlete.  The sad part for me is it is likely they really think this athlete spoke this and that it was actually about sports.  It is not about sports at all.  In the real world people do get hurt despite our best efforts.  It is a bit overstated to think that just because we try hard we will have success.  Many have tried and many  have failed.  There must be something else than just trying really hard.   The only real safety we have is in doing God’s will not our own.

Follow Our Heart

Every time I hear about following my heart I literally feel sick.  It is not that the notion of pursuing dreams and desires is necessarily wrong.  In fact, we all want our children to find things they enjoy and to do them well.  What I don’t want is for my children to only follow their heart.  I know this from my own heart.  In fact, the Bible has something to say about this.

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? – Jeremiah 17:9

Following our hearts, while the thing many people tell each other, is actually a dangerous thing.  We must line our hearts up to God’s Word and live that out.

Follow God, not your heart

Each summer brings about a new transition for youth ministries.  Students are on a different schedule and sometimes ready to engage in something meaningful.  At other times they are just wanting to hang out with other teens and build some relationships.  Whatever the case, it is important that we all make the most of the opportunities we have to help the people we influence get the right picture of God and His Word.  The truth is we just don’t have that much time and the culture is not going to help.

Thy will be done, at this graduation, as it is in heaven.

It is always a special moment when high school students publicly stand up for their faith. I have had students tell me about the harassment they receive from their peers and teachers when they reveal what they believe about Jesus or the Bible.   In the public schools it seems like there are efforts to limit any expression of faith whatsoever for fear that someone might be offended.  But the truth is that in this day and age of tolerance, no one should ever be offended.  That is not what tolerance is all about.

A valedictorian at a high school in South Carolina made a statement when he ripped up his approved speech and said the Lord’s prayer instead.  The reaction was amazing as people cheered as he read it.   Naturally there are groups upset with this, but I don’t understand why.   If he would have recited something from Buddah, Oprah Winfrey, Deepak Chopra, or some other new age figure, they would have been excited about his literary knowledge.  But, sharing something Jesus said, well,  that is too divisive I guess.

Listen to it and decide for yourself.  As for me, I am proud of this young man for not being afraid to stand up for what he believes in because it represents more than just something he does; it is his identity.

What do you think?  Is this out of line?  Why?

 

 

Your impact will only be as significant as the One you serve.

As I sat in the packed, overheated gym, I was once again amazed.  I have been to many graduations to be sure, but each one brings with it unique emotions.  Excitement is not what I was experiencing, nor was I overly bored.  It wasn’t the many people who were gathered in one place for one event.  What gets to me is that there are so many kids graduating that do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ.  As they file past me, I pray that God would make Himself known in each of their lives.  It sounds nice to tell the graduates that they should be courageous and should make a difference in the world. I just find that they overdo it when much of the talk is centered on themselves and how inherently awesome they are.  Of course, they are awesome people. I agree that there is so much potential represented in the graduating class.

But, the truth of the matter is that without Jesus Christ that difference will be limited.  Think about it.  If you want to make a difference in the world, what do you need to do?  You need to stand out from the herded mass.  You need to do something that completely contrasts the normal way people live.  Jesus Christ did this and He calls us to the same.  In that regard, your impact will only be as great as the One you are serving.  So, my message to those graduating, or those who have graduated a long time ago is to follow Jesus!  I know that sounds simple, but take a look at just a few examples of this.

Love your enemies – Jesus didn’t just tell us to love our enemies, He did it.  This is so radical in our world because no one in their right mind would ever want to love someone who doesn’t love them back.  But, I guarantee that if you do this, you will make a huge splash in the world.

Give to those who can’t give back – Jesus didn’t die for us because we could pay for it.  He died for us because we couldn’t pay for our sin without Him.  Imagine if we gave to people just because we wanted to and didn’t expect anything in return.  It would change so much about our world.

Look for those in need and help them – Jesus was notorious for finding those who were hurt, broken or deep in sin and reaching them.  We don’t need to go far to find these people.  Some of them are right next door, or,  in some cases, in the same home.   We would make a huge difference if we just paid attention to the people around us.  That means slowing down and opening our eyes.

Love people without condition – Jesus modeled this well for us also.  He didn’t wait for us to love Him as a condition for His love.    He loved us because that is who He is. Yet, some people still don’t accept that.

Stand for something —  I know that it is easy to just follow the crowd, but what if the crowd is going to a place that is dangerous.  It is the old thing that parents tell their kids, “if your friend jumped off a cliff would you?”  The sad truth is that many people will and often do get themselves into situations they would never be in without the influence of their peers. Jesus was pressured to change, give up and was even tempted by the devil to surrender to him.  But, Jesus stood for something and didn’t let the pressure get to Him.

Don’t be petty —  While many Christian people fight about silly things, there are people dying without Jesus.  Jesus didn’t waste His time with the peripheral things like what someone was talking about or who was dating who.  His concern was for the mission He was sent to complete, “to seek and save that which was lost.”

Remember that each person is important —  I have remembered a quote I heard years ago, even though I can’t remember who said it.  It said, “remember that there is no one you will meet today who Jesus did not die for.”  This has been something that I have had to remind myself of often.

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. – 1 John 4:10

I have no idea what any person that I encounter will become.  I know that I fervently pray for the youth group and for my own children that they will choose to follow Jesus Christ no matter what.  In a world that is rapidly changing, this gets to be more of a challenge every year.  But, every person who follows Jesus will make an impact making the effort worth it all.

What would you add to this list? I am sure there are more things we can add.  Who knows, I might do a follow-up piece to this at some point.