(Below is an email I sent out to my small group on February 18, 2009)
Hello Everybody! I'm sorry that these emails have taken so long in coming--my computer was on vacation in Virginia Beach. (LOL--My mom took it with her, so it was unavailable.)
So...
Two weeks ago we talked about 'kidults.' 'Kidults' are those people in their twenties (or even thirties and forties, as we found out) who are still thinking and acting the way they did when they were children. They're like Peter Pan in Neverland; they don't want to grow up and take on the responsibilities of adulthood; they just want to be young and have fun. But the truth of the matter is that Neverland does not exist. Even in the bedtime story, with the exception of Peter himself, everyone eventually leaves Neverland behind to go home and grow up.
"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became [an adult], I put childish ways behind me."
-1 Corinthians 13:11
As Christian teens, we cannot live our lives as 'kidults.' There is no magical age when we are suddenly grown up and can get our acts together and begin living responsible and productive lives. We can't say to ourselves that we can live however we want to today and begin the work of God's kingdom tomorrow. There is no guarantee of a tomorrow.
"Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil."
-Ephesians 5:16
"God created us to live with a single passion to joyfully display his supreme excellence in all spheres of life. The wasted life is the life without this passion. God calls us to pray and think and dream and plan and work not to be made much of, but to make much of him in every part of our lives." -John Piper
Are you living a passionate life? Is Christ your one true love, and the sole focus of your existence? All that is good in your life is a mere side-effect of your relationship with God. Should we be more in love with the gifts than we are with the Giver? This is something I've been wrestling with in my own walk; I have been striving very hard to love God above all else, and to do all that do because I love him, and for no other reason.
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men."
-Colossians 3:23
"Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
-Matthew 22:27-39
This past week, we spent a lot of time discussing the hard thing that we want to tackle as a group. One thing I want to stress is that 'Do Hard Things' shouldn't be viewed as a one-time event. We shouldn't just finish this book, do one hard thing, and then forget about everything we have learned. Let the things you are learning in small group reshape your life and permanently change the way you think and act, the way you view your life and purpose. When you are a Christian, not to move forward is to fall behind. You cannot remain a baby-Christian forever.
"It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad." -C.S. Lewis
We are still tossing around and developing ideas for our hard thing; a possible outreach ministry for the trailer park across the street from the church (loving our neighbors in the literal sense) and a fund-raising concert are already in the works. This week, I want to challenge you to pray and ask God to show you your part in all of this. Where is he calling you? How is he touching your heart? And where is your service most needed? We don't do hard things to make ourselves feel good, or even to make the world a better place. We do them to win souls for Christ. The world is like a sieve; every good thing that we do just runs right through it, until we are utterly spent. The only thing that can fill it is the boundless love of God, which never runs dry. We are his chosen instruments to display that love.
"The place that God calls us is that place where the world's deep hunger and our deep desire meet." -Frederick Buechner
God bless you all this week; you are in my prayers.
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