Fan the Flame

I had a great weekend this weekend working with junior high students.  Over the past several weeks we have been talking about ways to strengthen our relationship with God.  We’ve talked about things that can help us come to know Him more.  We’ve talked about how a relationship with Him will help us avoid temptation.

This weekend though we just kind of laid it on the line.  We talked about how it wasn’t good enough to just know what we were supposed to do.  We can’t be satisfied with just having knowledge. It isn’t enough to just know what the right choice is to make.

I kind of look at it like a job interview.  If you’ve ever conducted an interview before, then I am pretty sure you know what I am talking about.  People come into an interview trying to make sure they give all the right answers.  This is how you get the job.   You give the right answers and they hire you. The problem with this is that many people aren’t even concerned with following through with what they said in an interview.  They will just do whatever they want after they get the job.  You see, it doesn’t matter if you have the right answers unless you follow through and do what you say.

This weekend we discussed this very concept with students.  We have some very intelligent students, and some of them know a lot about scripture.  I am very excited to tell you that, but knowing the answers is only the beginning. We have to do something about it.

James 2:22 says, “You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete.”

We have to put our faith into action. I love the old song that says,  “Faith without works is like a screen door on a submarine.”  What good is it to know the right answers if you don’t do something about it?  What does it matter if you know right from wrong if you don’t do what is right?  What good does it to do for us to come together and make a plan if we don’t put it into action.

A big goal of our junior high ministry is to set up students to live out their faith.  They have to choose to do that.  We can just fan the flame. I love starting fires, but we must do things to keep the fire going in the lives of our students.

I would love to hear what you have done to Fan the Flame within your students.