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"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire!"
William Butler Yeats
When my children were quite young, we would snuggle up on the couch, the wide-eyed children squishing around me. I would gently, passionately say, “Jesus has a special mission for each of you—Sarah, Joel, Nathan, Joy—to accomplish in the world. He has designed you to be light bearers, love-givers, wisdom tellers. You will meet people who will need only you to be the hands, the words, the message of God's love. I can't wait to see how He uses you in your world!”
They would wiggle, touch toes, or push a little for more room, but each one heard their name associated with God's love and their story to tell, and they would shake their little heads in affirmation when I would ask, “Isn’t it exciting to see how normal fisherman did miracles and helped people—just like you will do!”
Today, so many youth and college students regularly leave their faith behind, as they confront the world and its messages. Why, when so many good families have taken the time to build the messages and love faithfully?
We were designed by God to have deeply meaningful, purposeful lives—our children long for it. We were made for love and belonging. Jesus offers both.
We reflect on the life of Jesus…
Dusty, rutted Roman roads were filled with clatter of wagons of market goods for sale, donkeys carrying burdens of farm vegetables, caged fowl squawking, and horses mounted by menacing Roman soldiers, mulling around in the noisy marketplace of Jerusalem. And yet, it was here, in this oppressed, unknown, seemingly insignificant hamlet that a worldwide revolution would begin that would rock the world forever.
An obscure teacher, rabbi over common fishermen, tax collectors, and mere women, would spark a fire in the hearts of those hungry souls that would turn the world upside down.
Those caught in the fray of mundane life longed for something more, to be a part of a life that held meaning besides grasping day-to-day for enough to eat, a way to pay bills.
And so, the secret, underground movement was ripe for the times in which it was birthed.
“Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”
Always, Jesus' message was about casting a vision that would capture the hearts and imaginations of men and women, their hearts were stirred, and their fellowship around what gave them meaning together.
Always, always the message of Christ was missional—Go! Influence! Bring light! Redeem! Become a part of a movement of the Spirit of God blowing through the lives of people all over the world. Take over the darkness with your light—become redeemers! Still, today, amidst the mundane, hearts long to be ignited with the passion, purpose, and influence that will continue to transform this world of darkness into a place of light and hope—and all of us have a part to play.
Jesus’ words were sending ones, purpose-driven and fitting for warriors:
"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves." (John 17:15)
"I do not ask that you take them, (my disciples) out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one." (John 17: 15)
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 5:13-16)
"When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9: 36-37)
Will we pray for him to send our children, us, into the harvest field? Are we willing to go anywhere? Do anything? Are we arming our children with values for living for eternity and not just living for the temporal, this world, the material, that is corrupting as we live each day?
All children and all adults were made for a life of meaning and purpose. We were created to be message makers, healers, redeemers. There is a kingdom of darkness but we are people of the light and the light will overcome all that is evil, dark, meaningless, and harsh. We are people of the kingdom and we are bringing that kingdom to bear every day in every act, every expression of our faith, every moment of our worship—because we have been adopted by the king!
