Our students do not have to continue to feel hopeless in the dark captivity they feel at their school or in this world. Rather, they may rest in the fact that they have a Savior in heaven who stands at the right hand of God and intercedes on their behalf.
In a world that is quick to cancel, the Christian response to the sins of our brothers and sisters is not quiet submission or public shame, but Gospel-centered critique spoken in love.
Jesus restores work to its proper place by stepping in to be the faithful Savior that nothing else ever could ever be. His perfect life, substitutionary death, and victorious resurrection have secured for us all the security, meaning, and identity we will ever need.
In one way or another, our students will be faced with reconciling suffering and the “good life.” As youth pastors, we need the resources of the gospel to point teenagers to a biblical perspective on suffering.
Be faithful to the calling you have received. That faithfulness will combat the jealousy of being compared and will provide you courage as you lead students to look to Jesus more than to human leadership.
Any report regarding me before God the Father is “well done my good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23). This is not because I am incredibly good and faithful, but because I have been beautifully united to the One who is.
Students need us to lead and teach from the overflow of our intimacy with Christ.
I believe the Lord has grown our children’s understanding of the Gospel, in part through my husband’s and my failings, repentance, apologies, and tearful confessions that we are wretched sinners apart from Christ.
Keeping your heart near Jesus is literally part of your job description. How can we proclaim the gospel to students if we’re not experiencing God’s grace in sending Jesus to live and die in our place?
