God’s Eternality is Good News for Youth Ministry

One of my biggest worries as a youth director is that there is simply not enough time to disciple students to the extent I want. Between Sunday School and Wednesday night youth group, the ministry averages around three hours a week with our students.

This hit home for me one Wednesday night when a group of students was discussing their anxiety about the college application process and how they were hoping they would get into the right school. When a staff member asked why this made them anxious, one student responded with stunning honesty, “I want to get into a good school so that I can get a good job, make a lot of money, and have the things I want in life.” The painful irony of this interaction was that it came in right in the middle of a semester-long study of Mark’s gospel and the cost of discipleship. It seems that Jesus’ warning about the dangers of wealth, faithfully taught by one of our staff members, had gone unheeded (Mark 10:23-31). 

Compared to the three hours a week we get for discipleship efforts, our students’ other 109 weekly waking hours are dedicated to messages from their families, schools, friends, activities, entertainment, and social media. These messages are not neutral but rather act as liturgies, presenting our students with their own “taken-for-granted story of the world” that functions to “indirectly indoctrinate” them. The result is that many students are far more conversant in the idealogies of their surrounding culture (like consumerism, political activism, or individualism, etc.) than they are with the core tenets of the faith. They may be more likely to know the lyrics of top ten hits than they are the words of the Lord’s Prayer or the Apostle’s Creed. 

Even students who are being faithfully discipled at home and go to excellent Christian schools still receive counter-discipleship messages, whether from their peers or through social media. If the biblical vision for next-generation discipleship is found in Deuteronomy 6:7-9 – that God’s word should be on our hearts and minds from “when [we] lie down, and when [we] rise” – then it can feel like we are far from the goal. 

In the balance of things, it feels like our three-hour window for discipleship may be drowned out by the counter-discipleship happening the rest of the week. But maybe that’s not the right way to view our limited time with students. 

Time and The Eternal God

While this situation may look bleak, the Scriptures give us reason for hope. Though our time is short, and our ability to effect change is limited, the triune God’s relationship to time is not like ours. God does not worry about the amount of time available because time works for him. God is not at the mercy of time, for He created and governs time, using it for his own purposes and relating to it as it suits him. God’s eternal nature means that He has always existed and is not limited by moments that govern our existence. 

Therefore, while our perception of time may breed anxiety or disappointment for us, God is not so inclined. God’s eternal nature, however, is not merely a philosophical fact for our contemplation and wonder. Rather, it is good news with practical implications for God’s people. 

For example, in Psalm 90, Moses draws comfort from God’s eternal nature, saying, “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” Because God is eternal, Moses and the people of Israel can rest in him, knowing that he will perpetually be their refuge and dwelling place. His eternality means He is always trustworthy. 

Similarly, the Apostle Peter reflects on Psalm 90:4 and writes, “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief” (2 Peter 3:8-10a). For Peter, God’s relationship to time in his eternal nature causes him to reflect on God’s mercy and patience towards sinners, while also recognizing that God will also come in his perfect timing to save his people.

Similarly, in Joshua 10, God makes the sun stand still, miraculously extending the daytime and allowing Israel to achieve a decisive victory over their enemies. The biblical witness makes clear that time does not restrain God, but rather functions in accordance with his eternal nature, will, and purpose. Not only does God’s eternality mean He is trustworthy, but it also means that our reflection on time should not be one of turmoil, but of hope in the eternal God’s ability to maxmize our ministry impact according to His purposes.

Plenty of Time

So, what this means for youth ministry is that our seemingly short three hours a week of discipleship, which may otherwise seem insignificant, are not constraints on God’s ability to work all things according to His will. God can make use of the time however he pleases, bending it towards his kingdom purposes. And because Christ promises that he will build his church, even when we feel like we are unable to accomplish everything we want in the time we have, we can trust that God will use it in ways seen and unseen “to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:20). 

The eternal nature of God and his promises help youth workers restrained by time to not despair. Instead, we are simply tasked with “making the best use of time, for the days are evil” (Eph. 5:16). We must be good stewards of the time we do have, investing it in relationships with students and instructing them in God’s word with wisdom and clarity, giving them glimpses of Christ’s kingdom and the ultimate hope that awaits them in eternity. We will not get every important point across, and we may not see the type of fruit that we desire in the lives of our students, but we know that the same God who has been sovereignly watching over creation since its inception will work in their lives for His glory and their good. 

The Lord of time will use us and our ministries how He sees fit, to make eternal impacts in the smallest of moments. Let’s not underestimate what our timeless God can do with three hours. 

And so, let us commit ourselves to prayer, returning to the words of Moses in Psalm 90:17:

Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!