Mark 4:26-29
If you want to be in control, don’t work with teens! Teenagers live a rocky life because everything is changing for them so fast. They are no longer little kids, and are being prepped to be adults. They are going through hormonal changes, they are learning how to plan for the future, they are starting to develop feelings for others that are new, they still have parents that are trying to navigate what it means for them not to be little children anymore, they are experiencing new pressures, and more!!!
With this, their spiritual development can be rocky as well. The teens that seem to be on the best paths soon come into a new challenge that they don’t always know how to handle, so they begin to become anxious and struggle. As a leader it can feel like a never-ending cycle that you wish this kid would just get their life together, so you pray, give advice, and a lot of times go home frustrated.
But then one day this same kid just gets it. It can be through an experience, a message, camp, a friend, or even just some personal reflection. They come in on fire and ready to go! They begin to bring friends, they ask for Bible verses to read, they participate in small group, and serve whenever they get the chance. Sometimes you get to see progress, but sometimes you are dumbfounded. You are not sure where this passion came from, but you are just so glad that it is there.
We serve a great God who honestly does most of the work! In Corinthians, Paul reminds us that some plant and some water the seeds, but God makes them grow, and that God is the one that gets the glory for all of it. Youth ministry really keeps that in focus, because a lot of the time you have no idea what you did or said that God used in a teen's life, but you are just happy and excited that God has used it. We are seeing so much of that in our youth ministry right now! Please continue to pray that God continues to use each and every one of us in the ministry, and that God continues to send people who are passionate and faithful to speak into the lives of the teens at Emmanuel.
If you want to be in control, don’t work with teens! Teenagers live a rocky life because everything is changing for them so fast. They are no longer little kids, and are being prepped to be adults. They are going through hormonal changes, they are learning how to plan for the future, they are starting to develop feelings for others that are new, they still have parents that are trying to navigate what it means for them not to be little children anymore, they are experiencing new pressures, and more!!!
With this, their spiritual development can be rocky as well. The teens that seem to be on the best paths soon come into a new challenge that they don’t always know how to handle, so they begin to become anxious and struggle. As a leader it can feel like a never-ending cycle that you wish this kid would just get their life together, so you pray, give advice, and a lot of times go home frustrated.
But then one day this same kid just gets it. It can be through an experience, a message, camp, a friend, or even just some personal reflection. They come in on fire and ready to go! They begin to bring friends, they ask for Bible verses to read, they participate in small group, and serve whenever they get the chance. Sometimes you get to see progress, but sometimes you are dumbfounded. You are not sure where this passion came from, but you are just so glad that it is there.
We serve a great God who honestly does most of the work! In Corinthians, Paul reminds us that some plant and some water the seeds, but God makes them grow, and that God is the one that gets the glory for all of it. Youth ministry really keeps that in focus, because a lot of the time you have no idea what you did or said that God used in a teen's life, but you are just happy and excited that God has used it. We are seeing so much of that in our youth ministry right now! Please continue to pray that God continues to use each and every one of us in the ministry, and that God continues to send people who are passionate and faithful to speak into the lives of the teens at Emmanuel.
Posted in Devotional