a Shared Life

Tonight Mike & I drove up to Red Lion Christian Academy for a seminar on Growing Up Christian by Karl Graustein.

For those of us who came to faith in Christ as adults, some of the quirks of growing up in the Christian subculture are alien to us. The experience of those inside the “bubble” is vastly different than my own. Working with people who have grown up knowing what it meant to be “saved” has been interesting. So many teens and young adults have the blessing and privilege of growing up in a church that informs them, but often fails to lead them to Christ in a way that transforms them. Karl Graustein describes 4 dangers, but I’ll just talk about three:

1. False Assurance
We need to question our Salvation. If our actions, motives, words and thoughts do not reveal that our thoughts have been transformed, we need to ask ourselves if we are really committed to Christ–or just playing the game. Has our life been changed by the good news of Jesus Christ? Or are we just meeting others expectations?

2. Lack of Amazement at the Grace of God
Nothing is so amazing as the grace, mercy and forgiveness of God. But, when we’ve heard about it more times than we can count, it’s easy to take it for granted.

3. Attraction to the World
There are so many things that distract us from our focus on living the life God calls us to live. Movies, relationships, leisure activities, etc. Look for what drives and attracts you–then ask yourself if it pulls you further from God or closer to Him.

Although the book is written for young teens, these are good areas for all of us who follow Jesus to evaluate our lives. I’m looking soon to teach a class for high school seniors on how to keep and strengthen your faith in college and these are likely to show up on week 1.