Here is a true story of a youth worker having a conversation with one of his youth leaders.
"Did you hear what happened during worship last Sunday?", asked the Youth Worker.
"No. What happened?", the youth leader asked.
"One of our youths was touched by the Holy Spirit and started crying. She was so overwhelemed that she had to leave the worship hall." replied the Youth Worker.
"Oh dear, what happened after that?"
"I managed to catch up with her after the whole service and chatted with her. She said she felt God's calling to serve in the Youth Ministry."
The youth leader's eyes lit up and he said, "Oh! That's actually good news!"
"That's not all. After that, I asked her if she was sure that it was really God calling her to serve. And she said that every since she attended the Youth Alpha Course at the neighbouring church, she has become very sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading and that she was sure that this was God's calling. So, I asked her in what area she was going to serve and guess what she said?" the youth woker replied with a smile.
"The youth committee?" the youth leader asked with a grin.
Suddenly, a gloomy look washes over the youth worker and he shakes his head, "No. She told God, 'No'. She rejected God's call. She said it was her O level year and that this call came at a bad time. And that's why she was crying. When she said that, I could just sense the heartache that God must have felt."
When I heard that story, I felt the heartache too. That God who died for us, was rejected by the very ones who said that we love Him.
I have had the priviledge of attending a few Youth Pastors / Key leaders meetings held about once every 2 months at various churches around the island. This meeting is inter-denominational, from the very pentacostal and charismatic ministries to the more solemn traditional churches, all the youth ministries have similiar problems. I won't go into the details of all the problems we share. Just one, that all seem to have problems raising up leaders from this current generation of teens.
Perhaps it is the youth leaders islandwide that has gotten it wrong. We have failed to learn how to minister to this new generation. Maybe we have become too dogmatic in our approach and have forgotten how to minister and instead only learned how to maintain. And that's where we need to change. But, when an entire island of youths behave the same way, I really wonder if there is a deeper issue.
The issue here is one of commitment and conviction. The excuse that the girl in the above story is not a new one, it's the same one a few youths in our church has given to me for their lack of commitment. It's a valid reason. Studies are important, very important and I want all of you to study hard. But, when God calls you out in the middle of the exams, then I think there is more to all that than meets the eye.
God is testing your faith, and He wants you to exercise your faith so that He may reward you in a much bigger way. AndHis heart aches when we fail to do so.
When we sing songs that go, "We live by faith and not by sight" or "Here I am, send me". And then when we display the very opposite, it's insulting the apostle Paul (2 Cor 5:7) and the Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 6:8), the writers of those songs, and worse of all, we turn our songs of praise to our Lord into mere lip service.
If you love Me, you will keep My commandments - John 14:15
The contrapositive and hence equivalent statement is: If you do not keep My commandments, then you do not love me.
I think, that when we disobey God, when we disregard His calling, we are really telling the Lord that He is not the First Love in our life and that we have placed our studies, our relationships and our selves above Him.
I know that God's heart must really ache when He sees His youth all so fired up and jumping around at Christian Carnivals, concerts etc etc. Yet, it is this same group of youth who reject His call when He calls them to serve Him.
As you all probably would have guessed. That youth worker is none other than Joshua, and that the youth leader was myself. How many of us have used that same excuse as that girl? How many of us have caused the heart of our Father to ache.
