The growing tendency in youth culture is to hyperventilate over situations. If something is tracking south (going from bad to worse), God doesn’t like the kid. Conversely, if his or her prospects are looking up, God favors them.
This tendency to define God by the small is an ancient struggle and often exists in our lives just as much as it does in the lives of our students. We fashion a concept of how God should function- notice me and come to my aid- and then proceed to rate him on his performance. This is one reason people become so disillusioned with God.
Our role is to effectively kill the ‘small life’ on a daily basis, to allow the situations to yield their own disillusionment and draw us up into the grand story- the unfolding drama of redemptive history. Life is about God.
Richard Rohr reminds us of five essential truths:
- Life is hard
- You are not that important
- Your life is not about you
- You are not in control
- You are going to die
If you’re like me the list appears excessively negative. But imagine the student who ties into these life lessons. And how will that student learn if we don’t arrive there first?
The list is only negative if we fixate on it. But if it helps to deliver us from our small ambitions and into God’s large plan, then we’ve truly learned to live above our situations.
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