3. Avoid reacting and be consistent.
Next, take a breath and calm yourself. We may never stop being shocked at the new lengths students will go to feel loved. But we need to stop living in this place. For example, when we discover that a youth group member is sexting, we immediately react. Or we pull together all our ideas on the topic of respecting yourself. Then we lecture for an hour.
After all, the hole in the heart of this generation isn’t new. Only their expression of it is. At 15, I felt the same desires to belong and be known. I just didn’t have instant access to a touch screen to express it. So let’s find ways to draw in who Christ is in their lives. Regularly tell kids what Jesus thinks of them and why this matters.
4. Be vulnerable!
Finally, students need to hear about our own struggles. Do we compare ourselves to friends online? Or do we avoid taking pictures from certain angles in certain lighting? Life is hard for everyone. However, let’s also share what we do to continually put our hope in Christ and believe his words of unconditional love. How do we look in the mirror each day in practical ways and see the Creator’s created? Talk about it!
Scripture isn’t less powerful and God hasn’t shrunk, just because we can’t avoid social media and have a stressed out generation. Culture has always affected how adolescents perceive themselves. But what has changed is that the whole world can watch 24 hours a day.
Let’s not focus so much on students’ pressures that we forget this fact. The power of the Word and the Cross never waver.
This article by Leneita Fix originally appeared here.
