If you're a follower of Christ, then you know loving your neighbor is a non-negotiable. It's part of the gig. But let's be real, that can be incredibly difficult, especially, when some people are just so easy to hate. But the easiest way to break that barrier to intentionally start a new habit.
What we are committed speaks to what we desire. Commitment takes us beyond just want we know, but into our deepest needs—as necessary as food and water. Commitment reveals what we love most and what we love most, we worship.
Spend any time talking with students about sharing their faith, and you will doubt discover they have a sincere desire to help their friends, classmates, and teammates meet Jesus and experience salvation. However, you may also find that we, as leaders, make far too many assumptions.
Every time a student goes online, leaves the house, is at school, hanging with friends—in fact, every time they pull out their cell phone, western culture is working overtime to shape and influence their lives on every level. No matter how many shelters or training camps we create, we can't prevent it—even if for a time. So what we know about culture and how we teach students is more important than ever.
I constantly battle my tendency to carefully wrap my kids in bubble wrap, packing peanuts, and clearly mark the package fragile. It is a trend that is setting our students up for failure. We are preparing the road for our children rather than preparing our children for the road ahead. As a result, we are raising a generation obsessed with safety.
