We’re all concerned with it aren’t we? We might not all sit around for hours on end wondering about truth and the meaning of life but we all live according to the answers in the world as we see it. We listen to music, we watch movies and we enjoy the TV shows that most reemphasise what we believe about the world, and we hang around with people who have a like mind to ours. ‘Truth’ is a grand word that we don’t use too much, it sounds far too unreachable and ever so slightly arrogant, who are we after all, to say what’s true and what’s not? A few years ago a popular band released an album called ‘This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours’. It got to #1 in the charts. I like the title, it’s catchy and I can relate to it. I don’t like being preached at any more than you do but I can appreciate someone else’s version of the truth, I like a good discussion every now and then.
I wonder what you think when someone says the word ‘God’ around you. What kind of response does it provoke in you? Anger? Guilt? Boredom? Interest? What about the word ‘church’? Or ‘Jesus’? These are all words that are loaded with opinion and peoples reactions range hugely.
I wonder also how you’d answer the question ‘What’s wrong with the world?’ What would be in your top 5? Would religion? We’ve all seen the horrors of what can happen when religious people get hold of something that they believe to be ‘the truth’ and then use it to justify all kinds of horrible things from blowing themselves (and others) up to waving banners that read ‘God hates… insert here’
My guess is that that’s why we don’t talk too much about ‘truth’ it’s too easy to make enemies without even trying. If we’re honest I think that most of us want to just keep our heads down and have fun/make money/get married/all three.
What if there is more to life than simply what we make of it? What if there is a bigger, higher purpose and plan for our lives? Wouldn’t you hate to get to the end of your life and find that you missed it? It’d be like Frodo arriving at the Crack of Doom only to realise he’d left the ring at home in the shire on his bed side table – oops, you can’t go back now!
For what it’s worth, here’s my truth, the one that works for me and makes life make sense.
Consider this:
The reason you have a longing for meaning and significance and the reason you have a desire for love and adventure is because God wired you that way. In the same way that hunger can be satisfied by food, thirst by water and tiredness by sleep, so these desires can be satisfied by God.
It would be a cruel world if there was nothing in it to remove my hunger. Imagine a world where no amount of food took away your hunger pains and yet that’s how some people seem to see the world. We all have these deep desires in our heart and nothing it seems can ever fully satisfy or quench them. That’s a cruel existence. We try to stuff ourselves with as much as we can hoping that something will stick, something will make us feel complete. We so often go from relationship to relationship (maybe this boyfriend’s the one, or this one, or this one…), or from gadget to gadget, from job to job, from one pay day to the next never fully experiencing the kind of peace and excitement that we want.
Here’s where I mention the ‘J’ word.
Jesus’ life & death are recorded for us in the Bible, a remarkably accurate and historically verifiable book, and in it he is recorded as saying to a group of people just like us: ‘if anyone is thirsty, or heavy burdened and in need of rest, come to me.’
In fact it’s been said before that as a species we are always restless until we find our rest in God and my own experience has shown me that that’s true.
The Christian faith is good news. It’s not good advice on how to live your life but it’s good news that changes the way you live you life. The news is this ‘Jesus has come to rescue you, God is passionate about you, he isn’t angry with you, he doesn’t expect you to climb a ladder of good behaviour and brownie points, he’s come down to meet you.’
Jesus forgives you and Jesus can transform you. Jesus can equip you for a life full of satisfaction, delight and hope for the age to come.
Essentially that’s why this church exists, that’s why this youth group meets, that’s what we’re so excited about. Around us there are loads of people who all claim to know a deep joy and enthusiasm as a result of knowing we’re accepted and loved by our creator.
I’ve found this to be true, having tried and tested the claims of Christianity and having seen and experienced things that are, quite simply, inexplicable without what Jesus said being true.
You’re so welcome at True and at Kings. You don’t have to believe the same things as us to be a part of us and there’s no membership form for you to fill in or written test for you to pass. Just simply, kick back and enjoy the friendship and fun that we have at True.
If you’d like to find out more about what goes on each week then drop us an email to: jez.field@kingschurch.eu, become a fan of our facebook page (search ‘Storm Kings youth’) or visit our blog for more thought provoking topics on the claims of Christianity.
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