Course provided by Urban Youth
Youth workers, as you know more than anybody, our students are regularly asking, “Man, does God really exist?”
The world around them is kind of pushing God out of the conversation.
So I felt that if we went to the Scriptures, which is God’s Word, they’ll understand that the Bible doesn’t try to prove God’s existence. It just assumes that He is existing, but at the same time He’s the One who’s offered the very words.
We start with that thirty-thousand-foot level that, man, God does exist.
But then we bring it down to the praxis of the student’s understanding that not only does God exist, He wants to be involved in my life. He’s patiently loving them, constantly transforming their character.
We want that to be reflected in their day-to-day life, not just when they’re in youth group.
We start with the existence of God. Then it goes to the reality of God being the great I AM.
We reference Moses’ conversation with God in the burning bush and what that looked like to show the students that God is engaged in human life. But we don’t just leave it there.
We want to also inject the fact that God has fearfully and wonderfully made every student. They’re not a mistake.
You know, the enemy comes against them. The kids at school bully them. All these things make them feel like they’re nothing, that nobody will miss them if they’re gone. We want them to know—you’re someone, and you’re made in the image of God.
So we want them to grab hold of those truths which then lead them to ask the question, “OK, if God has done all this for me, what is He asking me to do?”
And youth leaders, that’s where it’s so important to hit home that God wants us to love Him with all that we’ve got.
Can you imagine what it looks like if the young people in our nation just loved God holistically? Imagine how it would turn our world upside down.
That’s what we want to see: We want them to know, yes, He exists: yes, He’s involved in my life, but He also wants me to obey the great commandment. God has a great commitment to me as a student as well. He’s committed to me, so I should be committed in showing my love for Him as I love others.
Then it concludes with the reality of our brokenness; and we know brokenness is all around us—every single one of us— and that’s why it’s going to connect with the students. It’s going to let them see that God knows that they’re broken.
They need to surrender their brokenness to God because He alone is the One who makes it beautiful. That’s how we conclude the story. It starts with this great big God, and it comes to a point where He is involved in my life and what He wants me to do. But at the end of the day they recognize, “I’m broken but He’s going to make me beautiful”
Part of the course (odbu.org/ UY101) In the Beginning © 2023 Our Daily Bread University. All rights reserved.