Time Out (by Jerry Schmoyer)

God is more interested in changing you through your youth than He is in changing your youth through you. Let me say that again. God is more interested in changing you through your youth than He is in changing your youth through you. It’s true. Why do you think He allows the frustrations and problems, the challenges and heartaches that keep driving you back to Him? It is easy to start thinking that God needs us to help these kids. The truth is: He doesn’t. He can do fine without us. He doesn’t need our skill — He’s the one who gave us the skill in the first place. We aren’t called to minister to others because we have reached some higher spiritual plateau. We are here in the ministry because this is God’s chosen way to stretch and mature us. Our ministry is His tool to make us more like Jesus. That’s His goal for all of us and it doesn’t end when we find ourselves leading others. Is He using you to help your teens become more like Jesus? I hope so — that’s great when it happens. But the real question is, is He using your teens to make you more like Jesus? That’s definitely on the top of God’s priority list for us. Don’t get so busy trying to change others that you miss what God is doing to change you!

Scripture
Philippians 1:3-6, “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Reflect

• How has God used what you have gone through as a youth pastor to help make you more like Jesus?
• What is He doing through your current situation to make you more like Him?
• Submit yourself anew to His process in your life. Make your number one goal in life to be more like Jesus.

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Jerry Schmoyer has been a minister in Pennsylvania for over 25 years and has worked with teenagers for 14 years now, ever since I became one myself. He authors the weekly Time Out series here at Life in Student Ministry in hopes to spiritually refresh your soul as you continually pour so much of yourself into students. God bless!

Posted on January 20, 2008