Generation Change: Be who God Created

Thursday evening 11 youth, Jeff Bell and I met to begin our youth Dave Ramsey study. This group will meet weekly for 9 weeks and cover a broad spectrum of topics and scripture texts which all lead us toward living into a call to be better stewards of the gifts God has given as well as living Christ-filled lives of contentment.

We’ve learned the importance of not letting our culture’s portrayal of teenagers become our own reflections and that the most powerful financial principle anyone can learn is CONTENTMENT. We know that God wants us to find our passions and follow our dreams (John 10:10) and that money is merely a magnifying glass which shows the world were our true treasure lies (Luke 12:34). The things we do with our money tells the whole world what we truly value (Luke 16:10). For some of us these were interesting lessons indeed!

Money, no matter how crumpled and grimy, worn and torn it can get, still has value. We do too! While money holds its value simply because it is money…our value is from Christ, not in what the world says about us. Money, itself, is not evil for scripture tells us it is the LOVE of money that is the root of all kinds of evil (1 Timothy 6:10). For that reason, it is not how much money we have that matters, it is what we do with our money that matters…and this goes for the smallest bank accounts to the largest.

While our culture teaches us the accumulation of ‘stuff’ is what makes us content, we know better. We learned that if we cannot find contentment in any given life situation, we will not find contentment at any point in our lives. Contentment is a heart filled with love for Christ, not a large home, fancy car or any number of expensive gadgets this world can offer. Chasing what the world values leaves us feeling empty and lost.

We are learning how to live life abundantly and how to use our God-given talents and abilities to find contentment in our lives….and this was only the FIRST WEEK! The life-lessons offered in this study are far more valuable than any earnings or savings these youth will one day acquire. Please hold them in prayer as they take on the challenges of going against culture to live more responsible, more contented, Christ-filled lives.

(And ask them if they’ve completed their homework assignment and how that is going for them.)

Blessings,
Tracy