Thursday,
May 16, 2013 ~ Keynote #3 ~ 1:00-2:15pm
GRADUATION…THE
NEXT STEP!
Happy graduation day!!! You’ve declared
your major! You’ve defined the relationship! You’ve overcome procrastination! You’ve
decided that the value of following Christ is well worth the cost. You are well
on your way to stepping out into the world and living your life.
Today is the first day of the rest of
your life! Today’s the day you start
anew. This year will be different!
When I first read this portion of
Romans 12, I immediately thought this sounds like a New Years Resolution list!
Indeed it is a list of goals for each of us to strive to achieve. They are
marks of a true Christian and a true committed follower. What a perfect list it
is for those who are graduating with a “major in God.”
Let’s go through the list…
Marks of a true Christian (Romans 12:9-21)
9-10 Love from the center
of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear
life to good. Be a good friend who loves deeply; practice playing second
fiddle.
11-13 Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert
servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray
all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.
14-16 Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with
your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along
with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the
great somebody.
17-19 Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got
it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not
for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”
20-21 Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go
buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity
will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the
best of evil by doing good.
How will your life be different? How
will your life going forward change when you leave Mo Ranch tomorrow? Now that
you have come to the end of this course… now that you are graduating with a
major in God… how will your life be transformed? How will be you different? How
will this year be different?
I’m going to hand something out to you.
[Hand out sheet.]
This is an opportunity to do a bit of
goal setting. I want you to sit quietly for a few minutes. Think about these
categories: Spiritually, how will your relationship with God be transformed?
What are specific, attainable actions you can list to become a follower of Him?
Relationally, how will your relationships with your friends change? How will they
know you have majored in God? What actions will be different? Personally… In
the first verse of Romans 12, we were called to change from the inside out. How
will majoring in God change the way you inwardly focus and feel? And for those
of you who are still in school, I added the category academically. I figure God
is at work in all areas of our lives. What goals will you have for moving
forward in school? How can majoring in God effect your mind?
I added some guidelines for you on the
back. Make it simple – no goal needs to be complicated. Make it achievable –
many of us want to climb Mount Everest before climbing the hill to the chapel.
Make it specific – a broad, general goal does not count. Make it easy to
evaluate – how will you know if you succeed at reaching the goal.
Take some time now to think over these
categories and make some notes for yourself.
+++
Take this home with you. Post it up on
your bathroom mirror or keep it in your Bible. Whatever the case, remember your
goals, remember your graduation promises. Remember why you’re majoring in God.
To close today, I want to leave you
with one final thought. Think of this as the graduation ceremony speech from
your valedictorian.
Back in the day, there was a popular
doll called a Cabbage Patch Kid. The interesting thing about this doll is that
people went absolutely crazy for it. One Christmas season, the frenzy to own
this doll was so nuts that customers were willing to pay up to a thousand
dollars for just one doll. This doll didn’t talk, it didn’t walk, it didn’t
mess its pants, it pretty much did absolutely nothing, yet people were going
into massive debt just to own one. Why? Because the marketing at the time for
the doll was so good that it made people think that this doll was actually
worth something. The sad thing is that it wasn’t. I bet it didn’t even cost two
dollars to make.
There is always a cost to something.
Sometimes the cost is not worth the item like the Cabbage Patch Kid. The value
is really whatever someone is willing to pay for it. One thing is worth far
more than we can ever pay, and that is a relationship with Jesus. It cost Jesus
His life. And it will cost you your life too.
The idea that it costs something to be
a follower and not just a minor fan of Christ can be scary. We hear that word
“cost” and alarm bells start going off in our heads. But what are we getting?
We get a personal friendship—a powerful connection to the God of the universe.
We get a relationship with the One who loved us so much that he was willing to
sacrifice His own life in order to save ours. And ultimately, we are getting a
new life.
God isn’t just looking to take from
you. The heart of God is to love and to give. If we give our lives to Christ,
He will take it and transform it into something we never knew we could be. He
will give our lives a new purpose and a new meaning. That’s what’s so wonderful
about God!
Yes, there is a cost to following Him.
Yes, we will need to give up some desires, some activities. Yes, we may even
lose some friends or status. But what God will give back will be so much more,
because it will last forever. It won’t go out of style, it won’t break, and
most importantly it will never lose its value.
I challenge you to give your whole life
to Him to accept the cost. Pay the price of giving Him your life and letting
Him remake you into what He wants. We all may be on different spiritual levels,
but we are all called to be the change, and that’s the one thing that won’t
ever change. Refuse to be average, and let your heart soar as God will allow
it.
Be the change! Be transformed! Be
different! Be a follower! Major in God!
