What life lessons for the next generation do you want to share? Consider these heartfelt insights from a youth ministry veteran.
I still recall the look on my mentor’s face when I first started in ministry. She quietly smiled as I told her I already knew everything and didn’t have much to learn. My opinion was truth, and no one could tell me anything differently.
Years later, I understand that look of hers. It wasn’t bitterness or even resolve. She understood you reach a point when you realize how little you actually know.
I’m thankful for mentors who let me think I knew it all so I could learn I’m desperate for help. I do wish I’d known how to navigate the pitfalls better. Along the way, I learned lessons I wish I’d learned long ago. As I walk alongside the next generation, I see heartaches they could miss.
5 Essential Life Lessons for the Next Generation
If kids could just “get” these five things, I truly believe they would take this world for Christ in mind-boggling ways.
1. Only Christ has what you need.
I know it sounds elementary. Yet I don’t think we teach teens how to have their identity in Jesus. Why? We don’t really believe He has everything. I heard Francis Chan say we will look to Jesus as a Savior, but will we see Him as our role model for living?
When we’re unhappy or the world is unfair, we try to find our identity in our work, our looks, our status, and even our ministry. We must learn early to look at ourselves through our Savior’s eyes and never lose our desperation for Him. The moment we think we can gain control, we’ve actually lost everything.
2. Take the hurdles head on.
A mentor once told me, “You can choose to run around the hurdles in your life. We all want to do it. The problem is there will always be another one. At some point, you need to learn how to jump them.” We can run away from our challenges. But another one will always arise.
James 1:2 says to consider it pure joy when we face trials of many kinds. The sooner we can learn that hurdles aren’t so scary, the more we can live a full life for God. It may not feel like it in the moment, but with His hand we can overcome.
3. The journey matters.
When you’re 10, you want to be 13. At 13, you just want to be 16. Then 18, and 21. Then married and having children. Our focus can always be on that “next thing” to attain. We should have goals, yes. But the most important lessons we learn are through the journey. (That may sound like a Hallmark card, but it’s true.)
Where you are right now is part of the shaping process that makes you look more like Jesus. So let’s help students ask the Lord, “What do you want me to learn in the adventure we’re on together today?”
