January 25, 2018
In recap of our time at youth group last night, we spent some time studying through Colossians 3 as a group as we answered the question: How Can I make Myself More Interested in God and More Involved in Church? For starters, we used the analogy of training for an olympic sport. I had the students brainstorm what their training would include on a daily basis, and what their training wouldn’t include. All in all, our conversations made in clear that there is a marked change in the life of someone training to compete in the olympics vs someone who’s not. Using this analogy, we jumped into the text in which Paul calls those in Colossae to “put to death what is earthly in [them]” and to “put on… compassionate hearts, kindness… and love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” The majority of our time focused on the action of taking off our old, dirty rags, and putting on the clean white robes of Christ. Just like an athlete doesn’t run in his/her jeans, so we don’t run in our filth (sin). Instead, we are given new clothes, and a new identity in Christ which empowers us to put to death the desires of the flesh.
The ending note of encouragement and exhortation regarding our initial question, how do I become more interested in God?, was that we are mercifully saved by grace and given a new nature, and because of that saving grace, we are continually reminded of our need to “look up,” as Paul tells us to do in Colossians 3:2. It’s only in the action of looking up, even when we don’t feel like it, that we’re freshly reminded of who God is and our desperate need to be interested in Him. The Christian life is not a mere moment of “hand raising” in church, but it is a continual fight to deny the flesh for the thing that’s so much better, the glory of God in Christ.
It was a good night. We even pulled out the good ol’ overhead projector and did some study with the text. My favorite comment from one of our sixth graders in regards to the magnifying lens of the projector was, “do we all get the chance to look through that thing up there?” It was the first moment in my life where I’ve felt a little bit old…
I’m with you and for you as you lead your kids to continually see Christ as better!
Categories: Youth Night Updates, Youth Tough Questions