Identity

I just got back from a great weekend with our senior high youth.  Despite being the coldest weekend of the year, so far (that seems to happen a lot with this retreat) we had a blast.  Our main speaker talked about who we are in Christ with the theme of "Identity".  Our breakout sessions focused on God's dream for us, committed faith, re-envisioning what Salvation is (not just a moment, but an ongoing process) and how we define ourselves.

I think this idea of seeing ourselves as God sees us is so important especially in a youth culture that tries to define teens by what technology they have, how athletic they are, what kinds of clothes they have and numerous other factors having nothing to do with how God sees us.

Several years ago our youth put together a video about how God sees us as "holy and dearly loved" taken from Colossians 3:12.  Jesus calls us to not conform to the standards of the world, but be transformed into who Christ calls us to be (Romans 12:2).  Culture has all kinds of ways that it wants us to conform.  But Jesus calls us to follow him.

My hope for our youth and any others who read this is that we will continue to wrestle with how God is calling us to live, and how we can find our true identity in Him.

"Identity" from Mechanic Grove Youth