If I Were a Rich Man......

I would not call myself an avid reader. I never have been. But I do like to read stuff pertaining to leadership; cultural trends; students; and a few particular authors that I've come to like.

I was reading some things on current trends and attitudes of today's generation of students and saw a quote by Walt Mueller that caught my eye. "If we're raising our kids to worship the holy trinity of me, myself and I, their eyes never will see beyond themselves to the world's need."

Having worked with students for more than 20 years, and being a parent myself, something that has always concerned me is the growing attitude of entitlement that I see in today's young people. Some of this is a result of our desire for our little ones to have everything they want, to be the best at everything they want to do, and to be able to do everything that they want to do. Slowly, but surely this has contributed to many of our kids losing sight of our responsibility as Christ followers to move out of the comfort of our student buildings and homes to reach those who are alone and hurting in a very dark world.

When we honestly look at our place in the material world, I, you, and everyone of our kids in our student ministry are most likely in the top 1 percent of the world's wealthiest people. Crazy huh? We don't feel wealthy, but the truth is you are one of the world's wealthiest. Sometimes we suffer from "out of sight, out of mind." Here are some suggestions to help rid our kids of that mentality and perhaps help instill a sense of urgency in them for spreading the gospel of Jesus.

1. Bob Pierce, the founder of World Vision, once prayed "let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God." Wow! As we read scripture God's heart for the poor is clear. Help your students read scripture to understand what it means to live as a Christ follower, not just to understand what it means to be a Christian. Seek first the kingdom.....

2. John Piper says that missions isn't only about going but about sending. Our kids need to know that wealth and material things are not wrong, but much is required of those who have been given much. We give our kids here at Firewheel lots of opportunities to live this out, but it seems the same ones show up time after time. This isn't just the case with students......... they only follow the examples given to them. Our challenge is to step up so that our kids see what it looks like, not just hear what it looks like.

Pray today that this generation of students will break some of the materialistic patterns that we may have set for them and live for Christ's calling on their lives. Many of them are worshiping false gods of comfort and success................ "I know that the LORD is great, that our Lord is greater than all gods." Psalms 135:5