I’ll answer now. There’s also going to be a question for you at the end of my answer. When you get to that question, please think about it seriously—it is important.

Here is your original comment (but I took out some info that could narrow down the teen you talked about–the changes are marked with “[ ]“):
__________________________________
“[...] i see 1 of the [teens] in ur youthgroup and [that person] is such a fake [...] doesnt act “christian” at all doesnt that bother u i mean [that person] talks about partying and sex and drinking like its nothing just though u should kno”
__________________________________

If our youth group only had people in it who “acted Christian,” I would think: 1) that we were failing to teach our teens what it really means to be a disciple of Jesus, 2) that we didn’t care much for the people Jesus loved, and 3) that we had a lot of teens who were very good at acting.

I teach and encourage our teens to grow in their relationship with God. I urge them to seek out ways to grow closer to God and give his Spirit more and more room in their lives. As we begin to give God more control of our lives, we will find that many of the things that used to draw us away from God begin to disappear from our lives.

We have teens in our youth group who come from many different backgrounds and who have experienced many different things in their lives. I care deeply about every one of them. And I know that God loves every one of them. Some of them have not yet given God any control over their lives. That doesn’t make me care any less about them. Others still struggle in a lot of areas. That doesn’t make me care any less about them.

Are some of the teens in our youth group imperfect? Every one of them is imperfect! I am imperfect too. Our goal is to keep drawing closer to God and let him help us in our struggles to live lives that are more like he wants for each of us.
I read this passage a lot. It’s about when Jesus called Matthew to be his disciple (the same Matthew who wrote this). Matthew was not a good person. He was a tax collector—a Jew who worked for the Romans who were occupying Israel. Tax collectors often charged their fellow Jews more than they actually owed in taxes and kept the rest of the money for themselves—in effect stealing from their own people. Matthew’s friends weren’t much better than him. Read this:
_________________________________

Matthew 9:9-13
As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him.

Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?”

When Jesus heard this, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.” Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

___________________________________

I used to be the kind of person who stood outside and pointed at those “scum,” saying “they weren’t good enough.” But then I realized how imperfect I am and how much God loves me anyway. Now I’m one of the imperfect ones sitting at the table with Jesus and a bunch of other hurting, imperfect people.

Here is my question for you: If you had to choose one of the people in this passage who best represents you, would it be one of the people sitting at the table with Jesus or would it be one of the people pointing fingers at the “disreputable sinners” and calling them “scum”?

If you’re one of the ones outside, I want to ask you to come on in and sit at the table with Jesus and the people he loves.

All caught up on my formspring questions! Time for some new ones… Ask me anything.

I love God and I love prayer! And you probably know that I work to help equip students to share God’s word in their schools, which I believe is important and good for them to do.
So it might be a surprise to you when I say that I’m not a big proponent of mandatory prayer in public schools. Here’s why:
Prayer can be private between an individual and God or it can be part of a conversations among believers with God. But when we attempt to force someone pray, the conversation with God pretty much ends.
Moments of Silence can be good, but I don’t think they are necessary. Every believer can talk with God any time she or he chooses. It doesn’t need to be a special time set aside only for prayer. We don’t need to close our eyes or say words out loud so other people can hear. Some of my most intense praying is done in the split second between hearing a teen’s heartbreaking story and my response. The prayer is something like this: “God, you love this girl (or guy) so much and they’re hurting so badly! Speak to them through me and tell them what you want them to hear so they can get through this pain.” But I don’t even say those words in my mind–they come from deep inside my heart and God hears them and begins answering that prayer before I even realize it. I don’t need to stop and bow my head or mumble words for God to hear me or answer me.
What I would absolutely love to see would be some Christian teens filled with enough of God’s love for her or his fellow students to just stop and pray for someone who is hurting at school. And maybe ask another Christian teen to join in that prayer. No one would need to know what they were doing because God would know and that is enough. I believe that if Christian teens would begin to this, God would work in a mighty way in our schools–by surrounding hurting teens with his love, by having his people befriend teens who feel like outcasts, by giving Christian teens the courage to stand up for their peers who are mistreated or discriminated against and by letting teens who feel unloved or unlovable that they God and his people truly do love them.
So, I don’t support mandatory prayer in public schools, but I do support and pray for REAL prayer in public schools. But more than that, I pray that God will give one or two teens who love him the courage to start doing it and doing it soon.
He needs someone to start. How about you?

All caught up on my formspring questions! Time for some new ones… Ask me anything.

That makes me so happy! And I’m glad you shared it! I’m praying you just keep getting closer and closer to him so you feel this every day. And don’t worry–you won’t explode…his love will just overflow to everyone around you.

All caught up on my formspring questions! Time for some new ones… Ask me anything.

The more we get into Jesus, the more we will care for and love others; the more we will stand up for those who are treated unjustly and unfairly; and the more we will give to the needy. Honestly, I don’t think we can possibly overdo any of those things…. Do you?

All caught up on my formspring questions! Time for some new ones… Ask me anything.

I know for certain because of my experience, not because of anything I have read or been told. When I opened my heart to God 6 1/2 years ago, his Spirit came into me in a way that let me know beyond any doubt that he is present with me and in me.
I had believed in God for a while before this happened, but there is a huge difference between believing and knowing. Imagine jumping out of an airplane with a parachute… I could believe all the way to the ground that the parachute would open and allow me to descend safely if I pulled the ripcord. Believing that wouldn’t help much when I hit the ground. But if I actually pulled the ripcord and the parachute deployed and slowed my descent as I believed it would, I would know beyond doubt that it worked.
A lot of people believe in God and just sort of dabble in that belief, mixing it with all sorts of other beliefs. After a while, they begin thinking that belief is useless because they it seems like God isn’t there for them. But if they would have been willing to “pull the ripcord” and trust in God 100%, they would have actually experienced God rather than just dabbling with thinking about him. If they did that, they would know as certainly as I do that God exists and loves them so deeply that he would allow Jesus to die for them so that he could send his Spirit into them.
For me, the Bible or sermons or teaching could not prove God beyond all doubt. But my willingness to place my trust in God 100% and experiencing his presence in me provided that proof, which then validated the Bible for me as the word of God.
I’m more than willing to expand on this answer…just let me know if you want me to.

All caught up on my formspring questions! Time for some new ones… Ask me anything.