I'm a minister to students. I love my job. I love my job because I love my students. And I love my students because of who God has made them to be, for who they are.
The reality today is that many students in Jr. High, High School, and college are losing their faith. Student ministry isn't like it was even ten years ago. The lives of students are not like they were ten years ago.
Students are losing their faith in Jesus for several reasons, but among the most important is the fact that we do not do a good job of equipping them for life. This is because although we teach them how to regurgitate phrases such as "God loves you.", "lost", "sin", and "Savior", we do not teach them how to know truth.
There are a lot of things outside of your families and your homes competing for you. A lot of things that are said to be true. That Jesus is the Son of God, that He is God, that he lived to reveal who God was, died on a cross and rose from the dead is just one out of hundreds.
So, how do you know it is true?
I remember that it was not until I was 19 and in college when it first really dawned on me that I believed that Jesus was still alive. I was sitting in my bed reading "The Chronicles of Narnia" and I got to the part where Aslan the lion cracked the table and came back to life.
I just sat there saying, "Dead things don't raise from the dead." I said it over and over again. Me saying Jesus died and came back to life was crazy. It was almost like saying "Elvis lives".
How did I know that Jesus was alive? For that matter, how did I know that the Bible was true and that all of that stuff really happened? How do I find truth at all?
You might struggle with theses questions. Maybe you don't, but I gurantee you that others around you do. And some of them who don't believe in God wonder why you haven't thought of it before.
What would you say to someone who says, "Science proves that God doesn't exist." or "The Bible was made by a bunch of guys that wanted to start a new religion." or "How do you know Jesus rose from the dead?"
If you have ever had those questions.,I want to give you some things to say. There is evidence for belief in Jesus. There is a way of knowing what is true.
Jonathan
A Farewell and Remembrance
1 year ago
