The Case for Discipleship
Today's generation of young adults have slackened in their passion and faith, having strayed from God's calling as true disciples. Discipleship, as well as mentoring, have been negatively impacted by the distractive influence of a materialistic culture fueled by media and peer pressure.
Passion has been replaced by passivity. Students, teenagers, and young adults alike have forgotten what a hunger for God looks like, and why it's essential to the Spirit-filled life. Young adults are spiritually starving but have lost the sense to recognize the urgency for Jesus. And ultimately, even in the case for most Christians, the idea of an active, passionate, and vertical relationship with the Lord has been abandoned - forgetting a love relationship with Christ is the only aspect of life where one can both be filled and hungry simultaneously.
Christians are struggling to define and live out hunger - an unbinding, unshakable desire to experience and connect with God. Hunger is an element of passion, which itself is evidence of an alive relationship with God. The hunger to draw near to the Lord maintains passion consistently and persistently.
Passivity is the absence of passion, hunger, faith, trust, discernment, and perseverance, just to name a view. It is one of the main silent killers of youth today, as it creates an arena for spiritual laziness, hindering life in the Spirit. Why? Because passivity pollutes passion and limits the pursuit to see the glory of God.
Because passion is lacking among young adults, most of the world is failing to see evidence of what Christians truly believe, often seeing facades and false portrayals of God's love. One must ask the question of what can be done to fix this plaguing problem? How do young adults commit to the Lord, and better yet, keep on track for the long haul?
At the core of the epidemic is a lack of understanding of God's love. Youth around the world haven't tasted an intimacy with God and therefore, have failed to develop a mindset of consistent closeness. Such failure has closed off passion and hunger via narrowing a knowledge of God and numbing our witness and desire to experience God's splendor.
Youth must learn to cultivate a worshiper's heart, must like the one David exhibited in the Old Testament. Churches and youth programs must find a means to draw young people to God by teaching on what genuine worship looks like, then doing so (action followed by words). Experience is critical in worship. Before radical worship can happen, however, any church must be completely focused on having leaders who are sold for evangelism and bringing people to Christ. Then upon gaining new converts, the church must take on the task of leading the person through discipleship training with a vision for apostolic ministry. To make disciples of Christ, in the way Jesus shaped and molded His disciples.
An approach to awakening a worshiper's heart must stay true to God's Word as well. A passion and drive for Christ needs to be rooted in the Word of God and in worship. One cannot be filled with the Spirit and live according to God's calling without a discipline to be faithful in these two tasks. God deserves our all, and through worship and meditation of the Word, we have two primary outlets to express love in a vertical manner.
The church and believers need to place passionate Christians in places where passion is lacking. Hunger needs to radiate and consume the many who are starving and looking for a spiritual ignition from God. We cannot safeguard and strive to maintain security and comfort. The indirect pursuit of comfort is one of several factors paralyzing the church today. Fear of failure and the anxiety of falling short in terms of being effective witnesses keeps many Christians locked in their faith behind closed doors. And mission mindsets are suffering dramatically due to partial leadership and a dwindling of passionate authority. Respect for authority has also taken a large blow, which parallels the bigger picture of Christians not living in total obedience to God's authority.
Mature believers should maintain a hunger to develop and disciple new Christians, in addition to witnessing in the dark places of the world concerning those who may have never heard the name of Jesus Christ. Ultimately the blind must see a zeal-filled group of Christians willing to abandon comfort zones.
Passion has been replaced by passivity. Students, teenagers, and young adults alike have forgotten what a hunger for God looks like, and why it's essential to the Spirit-filled life. Young adults are spiritually starving but have lost the sense to recognize the urgency for Jesus. And ultimately, even in the case for most Christians, the idea of an active, passionate, and vertical relationship with the Lord has been abandoned - forgetting a love relationship with Christ is the only aspect of life where one can both be filled and hungry simultaneously.
Christians are struggling to define and live out hunger - an unbinding, unshakable desire to experience and connect with God. Hunger is an element of passion, which itself is evidence of an alive relationship with God. The hunger to draw near to the Lord maintains passion consistently and persistently.
Passivity is the absence of passion, hunger, faith, trust, discernment, and perseverance, just to name a view. It is one of the main silent killers of youth today, as it creates an arena for spiritual laziness, hindering life in the Spirit. Why? Because passivity pollutes passion and limits the pursuit to see the glory of God.
Because passion is lacking among young adults, most of the world is failing to see evidence of what Christians truly believe, often seeing facades and false portrayals of God's love. One must ask the question of what can be done to fix this plaguing problem? How do young adults commit to the Lord, and better yet, keep on track for the long haul?
At the core of the epidemic is a lack of understanding of God's love. Youth around the world haven't tasted an intimacy with God and therefore, have failed to develop a mindset of consistent closeness. Such failure has closed off passion and hunger via narrowing a knowledge of God and numbing our witness and desire to experience God's splendor.
Youth must learn to cultivate a worshiper's heart, must like the one David exhibited in the Old Testament. Churches and youth programs must find a means to draw young people to God by teaching on what genuine worship looks like, then doing so (action followed by words). Experience is critical in worship. Before radical worship can happen, however, any church must be completely focused on having leaders who are sold for evangelism and bringing people to Christ. Then upon gaining new converts, the church must take on the task of leading the person through discipleship training with a vision for apostolic ministry. To make disciples of Christ, in the way Jesus shaped and molded His disciples.
An approach to awakening a worshiper's heart must stay true to God's Word as well. A passion and drive for Christ needs to be rooted in the Word of God and in worship. One cannot be filled with the Spirit and live according to God's calling without a discipline to be faithful in these two tasks. God deserves our all, and through worship and meditation of the Word, we have two primary outlets to express love in a vertical manner.
The church and believers need to place passionate Christians in places where passion is lacking. Hunger needs to radiate and consume the many who are starving and looking for a spiritual ignition from God. We cannot safeguard and strive to maintain security and comfort. The indirect pursuit of comfort is one of several factors paralyzing the church today. Fear of failure and the anxiety of falling short in terms of being effective witnesses keeps many Christians locked in their faith behind closed doors. And mission mindsets are suffering dramatically due to partial leadership and a dwindling of passionate authority. Respect for authority has also taken a large blow, which parallels the bigger picture of Christians not living in total obedience to God's authority.
Mature believers should maintain a hunger to develop and disciple new Christians, in addition to witnessing in the dark places of the world concerning those who may have never heard the name of Jesus Christ. Ultimately the blind must see a zeal-filled group of Christians willing to abandon comfort zones.
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