B.Y.M.B. (Brent's Youth Min. Blog) - Unity Update May 2011
Has your relationship with God changed the way you lived your life?
Has your relationship with God changed you?
Has your relationship with God changed at all over the last year?
All valid question I think, maybe some of you have seen this question before, (I’d like to hope so), and if you haven’t, take a look at the marquee next to the youth room next time you go by it J One of the things that we (myself and youth group leaders) have strived to do this year, particularly on the Sunday groups was to help the students develop a sense of just what Christianity is and what it involves. It’s not just talking a good game, but it’s about living it. It’s not about what you do and where you are one day a week, but it’s about what you do, what you say and who you are 7 days a week. Has your relationship with God taught you anything about yourself? How about what we are up against in life? Or has it helped you realize that you can and are free from your past? A true relationship with Christ is never easy, no one ever said it would be, and anyone who thinks that it will be is just kidding themselves. But what does it look like to grow in Jesus? Or to phrase it differently, what does “Spiritual Growth” look like? Some of you may know that one of my favorite authors is Mike Yaconelli, the founder of Youth Specialties. Though he died in October of 2003, he has had a never ending impact on me (as well as several other people I know who continually read and re-read his books.) So with that, I’d like to share with you a small part of his book “Messy Spirituality” and then have you ponder his words and how close (or far) they might be in regards to your life today.
“We would all like to believe that growth results from one mighty decision, a once and for all commitment to God And while we should celebrate our initial decision to follow Christ, it’s just the beginning of our spiritual journey, not the end. It is the first of many decisions, all of them important, all bringing growth.
Hundreds – maybe thousands – of decisions make up genuine growth, some moving us closer to God, some possibly moving us a little bit farther away, but all contributing to a deeper, richer and more textured relationship with God. During my adolescence, I made hundreds of decisions to become a Christian, to re-become a Christian, to rededicate my life to God, to rededicate my rededication, to go into full time Christian service, to treat my parents better, etc… I meant every one of those decisions, yet I successfully acted on most of them for only about two or three days. Still, those two or three days laid the groundwork for the next decision. I couldn’t have made the next decision if I had not made the previous one. I was growing one decision at a time. No question about it, my growing looked inconsistent: two steps backward, one step forward, up, down, in, out etc… But I was growing all the same.”
Growth in Christ, as much as we would love for it to be, never is charted like a hill that keeps going up at the same 35 degree angle all the way to the very top (the end) instead it is like an intense never ending Roller-coaster, constantly going up and down hills, loops around, sometimes feels like your spiraling out of control only to soon be back on the straight path up another hill…. Well you get the picture… Your roller coaster looks different then the person next to you but that one constant is that it is always moving forward. Your trust in God may waver sometimes, your love for him may not seem as strong when a loved one passes or you may have struggle securing work, then when you might witness a wedding. Your life in this world is going to continually change. But, the one thing that won’t change is the love that God has for you when your life is in him. While your life might be doing a corkscrew right now, going up a hill or going down a hill, the one thing that you can always count on is the fact that is continually moving forward. In the Psalms, Isaiah, and Luke (just to name a few) a phrase that you see is “and it came to pass” Have you had a bad year this year? It will pass? Have you had a good year this year? It will pass Things on this earth will continue to change, how you use them in your life is up to you, but the one thing that will never pass, is the love that Christ has for you. So, in all the things that you may have gone through in the last weeks, months, even years… has your relationship with God changed you at all? Has it helped you be closer to him? I hope so, because a relationship with a person who above all else, does nothing but love you would (I hope) always make you strive to be closer to him, I know it has for me.
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