Salvation's Not Enough: Unlock Their Souls!

Your students are looking for meaning, purpose and direction in their lives. Telling them it’s in a relationship with God isn’t enough; salvation isn’t enough! You have to unlock their souls! Through out the writings in the New Testament we see a recurring theme; the need for real faith, authentic relationship with God through Christ, over and against a form of godliness with no power. Religious events, countless corporate meetings, or contrived exercises that only mimic life hold absolutely no value. Yet it is often played off as the essence of Salvation. Instead of introducing them to the creator of the universe, our students are often introduced to our calendar and meetings. Our hopes and plans are genuine, aimed at the right goal, but so often students miss it because it has so little to do with their lives on a day-to-day basis. Have we missed the heart of Christ’s redemptive message?

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us, made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. (For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son. Col. 1:13 NASB) You are saved by grace! Together with Christ Jesus He also raised us up and seated us in the heavens, so that in the coming ages He might display the immeasurable riches of His grace through His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift — not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them. EPH 2: 1-10

Created for His glory, to reflect His highest good in our lives and activities. Marred by sin, then rescued: To be placed back in the “game”, for good works, we were born to LIVE! We were made, created, designed to fulfill the very thing God placed in us, our own unique internal wiring!

Show your students “Life in Christ” is the only way they will ever be able to answer the desires of their hearts. Show them by the power of the Spirit, their personal design for His Glory. Grant them the understanding that in Him is the revelation of, not simply the deep mysteries of the universe, but the answer for the journey of their lives. Work, play, love, all of life even the bad, as they live it now is sourced in Him. When they see the connection, then and only then will they chase with abandon the God we love and life in Him. Let’s not offer them religion and it’s duty hold out to them true life! It will “Unlock (release from prison) their Soul”

The Cares of The World; Gaining The Good Life!

Some years ago I had the great opportunity to know a talented young man who, after graduating with a PHD in agricultural engineering chose to forgo a lucrative career with a major U.S. company to go to a Eastern country closed to the gospel so he could introduce more nationals for Christ. Sharing with a group of students I was leading at the time he identified what he believed was the number one reason most “Christian” youth and people end up with such an anemic faith. Here is what he said;

“I recently met with my old youth group; kids I had grown up with at church. We all were passionate about our lives and relationship with God and all said they were going to serve Him with abandon, not being taken captive by culture and a lackluster faith. You know as I spoke with many of them now married; well into their lives’ and professions, I realized I was the only one who was following the path we had all swore would be our destiny. I was the only one who had chosen a life based on how I could best serve God. None of my friends had rejected Christ mind you; they were not doing anything bad, they were involved in church, raising families, working hard, paying their bills, and trying to achieve a semblance of the ‘American Dream’. I had an epiphany; ‘The cares and difficulties of the world’ had sidetracked them. My mind filled with the passages of the gospels like Matthew and Mark as Christ challenged his followers with the parable of the sower, the seed and the different soils it would encounter.”

In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away. "And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

His insight has never left me. Dealing with people in general and especially students, I am keenly aware that the reason so many discount a life in Christ is fear; fear they will loose out in this life. They will not find the love or intimacy they long for, their lives will be void of passion and excitement. They will be subject to poverty and a life of want; want in all the desires of their hearts. They find it impossible to align life in Christ with all they care about. You and I should know this is not true, the question remains are we wise, committed, genuine, and experienced enough to show them something else?

Is your God; the God of your teaching and serving one who delivers the desires of your heart or one who enslaves to a life of monastic insignificance? You may need to take sometime to wrap your mind around the difference between the God who is the source of true fulfillment and the misnomer of the God who is a "genie". Help your students discover a life in Christ that delivers, by His design according to their design!

Myth's We Teach

We tell them stories of David slaying his Giant, of Moses leading the children out of Egypt, of Samson, Gideon, Jericho, Mt Carmel, The feeding of the 5000, The resurrection, deliverance from jail, and the triumphal return of the King; the destruction of His enemies. Then having heightened their senses and hopes, after we’ve delivered such grandeur, we offer them a mere shadow of existence in this life, living as beggars, and slaves; the sounds of their own “spirituals” rising from fields of their slavery. Enslaved to forms of Godliness with no power.
It’s no wonder our students are leaving the body in droves. No wonder God, His body or mission gets little more than a cursory glance.
My God (Yes I’m invoking His help!)! As His messenger, remove the veil. Hand up to them the very “mission” of the King, filled with the passion of love, war, rescue and redemption. Give to them a life of noble purpose. Help them by intimate knowledge of He, His word, and themselves, define their calling. Don’t hide the difficulty, but don’t you dare obscure the joy of the journey, victory and prize!

“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
John 10:10

Offer them Life now! They don’t have to wait for eternity!