Saturday, March 9, 2013

Freedom of Mind

Dakota, a shepherd and leader of the youth at Mesa Baptist, by the will of God in Christ Jesus.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Gal. 1:3)


The other day, I woke up in the morning only to hear the obnoxious sound of my red-numbered alarm clock ringing, "rrrrr.....rrrrr....rrrrr." Still with crusties in my eyes, I noticed that I had slept in by 20 minutes later than normal, and was already late to a weekly prayer meeting held amongst some of the faculty at my high school. Agitated by my exhaustion and inability to be awakened by an alarm sitting next to my ears, I quickly got ready and set foot for the rest of my day. Walking sluggishly in to my classroom for my 2nd block class, I became increasingly agitated by the kid in the back of my class who constantly loves to sleep through my lessons and drool on his desk. To the front row, I noticed the typical freshmen girl who can't seem to find the motivation to put away her cell phone.
Although typically a very respectful and energetic class, today seemed like I was making no progress with them. Students were not answering questions or laughing as they normally do at my stupid jokes. No act, show, dance, or standing on the desks to teach would entertain their attention this morning. I thought to myself, "What is wrong with this class today?" and, "How in the world am I supposed to wake them up?"

Moreover, without prayer and reliance upon God, I continued to struggle at grabbing the attention of my kids, and felt guilty at the ineffectiveness of my morning ministry towards this particular group of students. The irony in all this, is that by the end of the hour my kids started asking me questions about my own attitude. They began making comments like, "Mr. Smith you seem frustrated today," or, "Smith, why are you so cranky?" Still, I denied anything was actually wrong with me. I refused a humble attitude and tried to persevere throughout my day with the impatience I had awakened with.

Lunch time had come and I was easily ready for the home stretch of my day to end. Rather than spending valuable time with my students after class to mentor them and invest in their life, I herded them out of the door like cattle in anxiousness to just spend a few minutes by myself. In that free time I began reading a story about a man in a subway station who was on his way home from a bad day at work. When he stepped onto the train, he was enclosed almost shoulder to shoulder next to people like him ready to get home. Already in a state of his "flesh" as he described it, he noticed a man getting onto the train with three of his little children, unable to keep them quiet. The kids began running around, jumping on seats, yelling out with carelessness, and disturbing some of the other passengers on board. Looking around awkwardly, the man noticed everybody else on the train was just as annoyed, and the worst part about it was that this father was doing nothing of any sort to tame his children. Finally, the man agitated spoke up and asked the father, "I'm sorry, but do you think you could try and get your kids under control?!" The father, with his head held against the wall of the train and eyes closed, looked up and said, "I'm sorry. We just came from the hospital, and three hours ago they lost their mother to cancer. At the moment, I'm not really sure to handle it, and it doesn't seem like they do either." With such a surreal moment, the annoyed man acknowledged his imbalanced mindset had immediately changed. Suddenly, his day wasn't considered so rough. His attitude had shifted from one of frustration to that of compassion and grace. Although lost in the moment of his own perspective throughout the day, this restored perspective allowed him to step back and be thankful for the things he forgot to praise God about.

After reading the story, I had a change of heart as God met me in my classroom with tears rolling down my eyes. Before I knew it, I was on my knees in prayer at my desk begging my King for His renewal of my mind-or, a perspective change. At the throne of grace I found comfort.

In this truth, I would like to pose a challenge to the youth at MBC. Often times, our perspective is limited due to the everyday trials of this life. It is much easier to give in to emotions and simply dwell in the hole of self-pity and pout. In fact, it can even become addicting! However, Christ said we are no longer slaves to sin, but instead are to be considered slaves to Him! How much do I allow worries to control my day? How often do I compromise when things don't go as planned? Under what circumstances do I submit myself to complain rather than praise? Indeed, the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life. Regardless of circumstance, Jesus seeks to set us free from the war within us (Galatians 5:16-18). With Christ, we can be encouraged that He is after the maturing of our minds, and that when we most want freedom we actually find that we already possess it.

To our God and Father be the glory forevermore. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with your Spirit. (Phil. 4:23)

Monday, March 4, 2013

Prayer for a Godly Desire

"Oh God, do not let me waste my life. Do not let the comforts of this place be more appealing than advancing your kingdom. Do not let my desires be wasted. Do not let my work be wasted, do not let my today be wasted. I want to seize today, but only if it counts, and is not another moment wasted. A day spent walking with you, seeking your command is never wasted. You save me from the longing of comfort, you save me from the American dream. God you save me from my wants, and let me want what truly matters: You."-My long time roommate, Caleb VanSteenwyk