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“Stop listening to instruction, my son, and you will
stray from the words of knowledge.”- Proverbs 19:27 (NIV)
I love being a
youth pastor. I’m not sure if I have said that before, but even if I have, I
will continue to repeat it. There is something about laughing, joking, serving,
and pouring my energy into the lives of young people that really ignites something inside of me.
An interesting
phenomenon in youth work is listening to or watching other adults with kids.
It is even more
interesting to hear them speak about kids when they aren’t around.
In my almost 16
years of doing youth work, a sentence that inevitably is spoken around me is
this: “These kids need Jesus.” Then, the follow-up: “They need to have
discipline.”
I totally agree
with both of the statements, but I wonder how the adults would react if I said
the same thing about them?
I often look at
my life and realize I need more discipline. I need someone speaking into my
life to help me in my walk with Christ.
In the past, I
have had a pastoral mentor assisting me in ministry decisions, prayer, and
focus. I have also had a close friend, also in youth ministry, whom I regularly
speak with about life and how I am handling certain ministry situations. It is
healthy for me to seek discipline and guidance in my life not only through
friends, but also the Bible.
For some reason,
many Christian adults rarely seek guidance and discipline, whether it is from a
friend or the Bible. They love book studies and discussion, but when it comes
to being held accountable for their words or decisions by a pastor or friend,
they draw the spiritual line.
We get into the
habit of believing we have heard all the Bible stories and have heard all the
sermons, so we don’t need to go deeper. We have reached our limit.
Yet, our kids,
they need spiritual discipline now! But, where will they learn it from?
I have heard
from some older parents: “I just wish my kid was back in church.”
Many times my
mental response is: “Why? So they can be told what to do? Let God do the work
of leading them back. What about you? Are you gleaning everything you can from
the sermon? Are you seeking guidance on decisions from the pastor? Are you
praying regularly with someone? Are you remaining disciplined in your faith?”
I wish I would
ask these questions, but I know the response: “Mind your own business”.
When Christ
spoke with many of the people of His time, during His ministry, they were
older. They were men and women who had lived life and knew the stories of the
Old Testament. They didn’t need to hear Him reiterate the old prophecies, but
He did and they learned from Him.
When He was
twelve speaking to the people in the temple, when His parents left Him behind,
they were amazed by His understanding of Scripture and learned something from
Him at that time.
It is
interesting to me that many Christian people get to a point of feeling like
they can’t be taught anymore. They step into a dangerous realm of believing
they have heard it all.
By doing that,
they lose their ability to remain disciplined in the teachings of Christ and
miss out on new insights that God may try to reveal through His word to all of
us.
Christ is the
Word of knowledge; the One who guides and shows us the way to His Father. The
Spirit will continue to reveal the newness of the word regularly.
However, if we become
so arrogant in our own understanding and we no longer seek the guidance from
the Spirit or the discipline from the Word, we miss out on growth and knowledge
that we can pass down to the generation who so desperately needs to know the
truth of God’s Word.
May we all
continue to grow in our faith and may we not “stray away from the words of
knowledge.”
QUESTION: Who do you seek guidance from?
3 comments:
I'm reading more than ever now-a-days. Have prayed for years for a mentor, but God has not seen fit to provide one, so I read.... living guys are good (some anyway) but old dead guys are the best 😀. I also like to listen to 3-4 other preachers online each week. Last thought... discipline is so often thought of as a negative thing. Matt Chandler (one of my chosen 4 :)) defines discipline as shaping, not just punishment. Lest we forget that God disciplines those He loves.
Apparently Kindle smile emoticons turn in diamond question marks.... weird.
Such great input Adam! Thanks for reading. It is valuable for us to seek a mentor, but we must be patient. Mentor is a heavy word. So many people shy away from being a "Mentor" because they look at it as being a hard task. There is a lot of responsibility. Perhaps it is better to seek out people to discuss life with. Not holding a title other than friend.
Someone to drink coffee with, bounce ideas off of, grab a drink and talk about God and His interaction with the both of you, etc.
Reading is great, but that intentional connection with another person is oh so important and we cannot miss doing it.
Thanks again for reading.
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