Back when Mandy and I were in youth ministry, we learned pretty quickly that youth need simplicity, and authenticity. They’re clever enough to figure out who is there for them, and who is there because they had nothing better to do on a Friday night.
One phrase which seemed to come out a lot in conversation with parents, or even the kids themselves was that “Everyone worships something. We want you guys to worship Jesus. From that desire, then comes the task of explaining how, when and why. Not easy when all kids want to do was play “top 5”.
Never played top 5? When you have high school boys under your care, it goes a little something like this:
“what girls do you like?”
“no-one.”
“aw, come on, just give me your top 5.”
“uh, ok, looks or personality?”
Bible study finishes before it starts
I like Psalm 115 because it confirms the character traits of God. Just like my guys in youth, we too, go through our mental checklist of things, or people to worship. Sometimes our checklist is based on how we feel, sometimes it’s based on what someone else has told us to think.
Ultimately, who or what we decide to worship has short and long term ramifications on how we live our life.
It’s difficult, but I’m encouraged to try, everyday, to put my faith in a God that can speak. A God who can see. A God who can hear. A God who understand and identifies with the experiences I go through.
I like the way it’s explained in John 1:14: God, through his son Jesus, became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighbourhood…generous inside and out, true from start to finish.
I’m trying really hard to have him at number one in my top five.