I can often feel the inevitable question. It usually occurs at night when we've finally gotten the children to bed and are left with a few quiet minutes to ourselves, reading or watching television. She will be lightly flipping through one of the seven catalogues that arrived in the mail today when she'll turn to me and say, "What do you think about this color here for our bathroom? Would this be a good one for us?"
Do you ever feel like you are standing in front of an apathetic sports team, trying to get them psyched up for the big game? They lack focus and desire, and your motivational attempts seem to fall on deaf and uninterested ears.
The situation is far worse and more challenging than you think.
Sneaking out of Sunday School was pretty easy. Where to go was the hard part. I didn’t drive yet. So I couldn’t leave the church “campus”, but I also didn’t want to be seen. Not that it would matter; I didn’t think anyone would notice I was gone. They didn’t really notice when I was there.
I liked church. I liked Sunday School. I liked youth group. I just didn’t seem to fit with these students. I had grown up in the church, come to know Jesus as my Savior and Lord when I was young, and even went to a Christian school. So why did I feel like such an outsider? I was pretty sure I knew the answer.
A number of years ago, the theme for the Reformed Youth Movement conference was: THE GREAT EXCHANGE. The topic was suggesting the exchange occurring with the imputation of the righteousness of Christ to us, and our guilt to Him, called JUSTIFICATION. That title, though, also suggests the great mystery of transference of truth in the learning process, the exchange by which real learning occurs. What are some of the factors that must be kept in mind as we consider Paul’s mandate to Timothy: “And the things that thou hast heard of among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also”?