Student Ministry - July
Dear Church Family,
This year has been marked by change and adjustment. I can say confidently that no one’s plans for 2020 have come to fruition the way they thought they would. And that is the strange thing about plans. No matter how well you map things out, they can change on you in an instant without your consent. While that is generally true, it has been especially the case this year. With COVID-19, quarantine, social uproar, and election year, 2020 is sure to be one to bring monumental and lasting changes.
As Christians, however, we are not overwhelmed by this. These things surely cause much anxiety, but we know that “The Lord is near.” So we are “anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving” we will let our “requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard” our “hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:5-7) We trust in God who is in control over all things. When we get overwhelmed, we cry out and He hears our prayers and comes to our aid. He is with us and guiding us as we continue to follow Him.
Over the last weekend of June we took a group of students on a Summer Retreat. We had about two weeks to plan it. We decided to theme the weekend: If the Lord Wills. It seemed to be an appropriate theme considering our context. We stayed at a wonderful AirBnb, went tubing on the lake, played tons of corn-hole, and had God glorifying worship. The retreat certainly lived up to its name, because none of our plans went exactly how we thought they would. But it went precisely how God planned it, which was the whole point. In order to convey the idea that Christians don’t need to be overwhelmed by change in life, we went over the following passages.
From Proverbs 16:9 we learned that: We are not in control. But God is, and we can trust Him with our life plans. From James 4:13-17 we saw that: We walk the balance of making plans and trusting God by holding our life with open hands and following Jesus as He directs us in the next right step.
Jesus had this attitude because He loved God and knew that God would turn even the worst possible thing into the greatest possible good. In the garden He prayed that the cup of God’s wrath would be removed from Him, but He knew that God’s will, no matter how difficult it was, would turn out to be His ultimate good (see Romans 8:28). So He prayed “not as I will, but as You will.” (Matthew 26:39) It is because Jesus trusted the Father through the worst possible circumstances that we now have access to God and are forgiven of all our sins! Jesus is now seated at the right hand of the Father in all His glory. God’s will turned out to be awesome! And now, we who are in Christ can also have this attitude of love for God and trust in His plans no matter how hard they may be.
We all need to remember this truth. But students who are still in the formative days of their youth desperately need to be shown that change happens, but God’s plans and His love for us never change.
Sincerely,
Brian Van Doren