| | My faithful pencil flashlight has recently developed the habit of slowly dimming over time, even though the battery, to the best of my knowledge, is quite full. It seems to start out really bright, and then slowly gets dimmer until I can't see, and then I have to turn it off, and then back on again, which provides for some more light before it dims out again...
Yeah... Most of you probably know where I'm headed..
How many of us are so similar? As Christians, I mean... Most of us probably aren't flashlights. I hope.
Seriously though... How many of us, every time there's a conference or an especially good church service are as bright as could be, eager to tell the world that Jesus is simply amazing. And then life comes.... Rats..
And suddenly I find myself dimming rather quickly, wondering where the fire and passion that all but consumed me went...
"Whatever happened to the passion I could live for? What became of the flame that made me feel more? And when did I forget, that I was made to love You?"
- Tobymac, Made to love
How many times does it happen among us, with me, that we go to something like Gen-Con or something similar, have an absolutly incredible and "life-changing" experience with God... Only to look back 2 months later and realize that our lives are exactly the same... The "life-changing" event that inspired us with passion and drive quickly turned into just a phase, a fizzling emotion that soon is just a good memory, and we forget how sure we were of who God is....
God... Help our memories....
I personally have seen it in so many youth, not to mention myself... That for a week after a particular event, everyone is fired up. The leaders are fired up and doing stuff, and all the youth are on board, ready and willing to do whatever the heck God wants...
And then next week, you'd hardly reconize them. Oh, check that. You reconize them fine, it's just that for about a week they changed into someone else...
And that is the problem. Instead of being temporarily brought down by the world, but ultimately living life sold out for God, we are temporarily "completely sold out for God," but soon lapse into our old ways of thinking. The "life-changing" event soon turns into "Week-changing," and, like I said, it becomes a distant memory. And usually that memory soon gets turned into talking about everything BUT the actual experience. Instead of talking about Gen-Con in terms of the amazing experience we had, we share inside jokes or particular things that might've happened (such as 2 years ago with Kyle reading the entirety of the new Harry Potter book over the 3 days)...
We feel almost afraid, retiscient to talk about the real reason we were there-Jesus Christ, and the changes He can spark in all of our lives. Instead we talk about playing soccer in the parking lot, or other random, stupid, late-night and tired things that happened.
Jesus help me...
"God, I pray for our youth right now... God, let it not be an event, a particular happening that changes them. God, events are brief, and often inspire a short-term change. God, rather than basing everything on emotion, I pray that You would inspire passion and fire in them that drives them to give everything to You each and every day. That every single day they live would be focused on You... God, not that a few days at a conference or a good church service would change them for a few days to a week. God, but that it would change them for the rest of eternity, and allow that to have a domino effect on everyone they know...
God... Let us change the world..." |
| | Posted 5/28/2009 10:13 PM - 14 Views - 0 eProps - 1 Comment
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