Something Better Than Change
Have you ever had a conversation that you know will shape you for years to come? I did recently. It was a good reminder of what we need to emphasize regarding spiritual growth in both our lives and the lives of our students. There is a more important goal than mere external change: we want students to go to Jesus.
I was talking with a student who has walked through a great deal of difficulty over the last few months. Some of that difficulty was beyond the student’s control, but much of the hardship had been self-inflicted. By the student’s own admission, sin was the problem.
After a few minutes of talking, I asked a question:
“If Jesus was physically in this room with us, what do you think He would say to you first?”
“He’d probably tell me I can change with His help.”
Defining the Problem
Change. No doubt, it is a common answer. One many of us would offer up, especially when it comes to dealing with our own sin. We know we need to change, and we may even want change. However, I don’t think it would be the first thing Jesus would say. Before there was any talk from our Savior of change, there’d be an invitation.
Here’s what I mean. In Matthew 11:28, we gain insight into the heart of Jesus who says, “Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” He’s talking to those weighed down by life, those who have self-inflicted burdens. Those who need to change. And what does He tell them? “Come to me.”
Really? No call to change first or to get my act together? Perhaps this is not striking to you, it should be! Before any change happens, we must encourage our students to first go to Jesus.
Accepting the Solution
This can feel too good to be true. Why? Because we know our shortcomings, our failures, and how deep our sins go. Even as believers, we know that we have areas in our life where change still needs to happen. It can be easy for us to see our lingering sin and think that maybe we have finally exhausted Jesus’s patience, that maybe the change will never come. Yet the Jesus we meet in the Bible is too gracious and merciful for our hearts to even fully comprehend, let alone exhaust.
Youth workers, let this be a reminder to us. We rightly desire students to live with wisdom, and to see external change happen in their lives. But it can be easy to settle for these surface-changes, since the “progress” is easier to see. But before we encourage change in our students, we must encourage them to go to Him. The Lord invites each of us to go to him in prayer and in the Word.
Perhaps your students are weary with sin. They need to be encouraged to go to Him. Perhaps they are on the brink, thinking they have finally reached the end of God’s patience. They need to be reminded to go to Christ, who is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Perhaps they are more discouraged than you realize. Remind them they’ll never reach the end of God’s grace and mercy. And oddly enough, when they embrace these gospel-promises, life-change actually begins to happen.
Remembering the Goal
The grace of God knows no bounds, and goes far deeper than we could imagine. This is what our students need to have their hearts reminded of. When we make the goal external change, then we undercut the process of sanctification because the goal of the Christian life is not about changing. The goal of the Christian life is about responding to Jesus’s invitation, time and time again to come to the One who has shed His precious blood (1 Pet. 1:19) and who bore God’s wrath to make us new (1 John 2:1-2). The beauty of the gospel is that whoever does that, “He will never cast out” (John 6:37). Let this be the heartbeat of our conversations and ministries to students.