Mine

Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. - Matthew 7:24

MPCYouth as just started a new series on what it means to, “Make your faith your own.” For the next four weeks we will be talking about what our lives should look like when you say, “My relationship with Jesus is mine. It is not my parent’s, my church’s, or any church leader.” I’m so excited to start having this conversation because it is the core of why I do what I do. To help teens encounter the resurrected Jesus and have a unique and special relationship with Him. I got to share with them that Jesus is waiting with excitement and anticipation for when they engage with Him.

We’ll be talking about how making your faith your own involves a lot of practice, community, growing, serving, and facing doubt head on. Having a personal faith certainly means that it effects the way we live our life, but that motivation and excitement should come from having a deep and joyful relationship with Jesus Christ. Teens today often feel like they have to jump through a thousand hoops to earn the “prize.” That is not the way Jesus works. He gave us the prize long before we started following Him. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Making your faith your own is not about earning it, it is not about proving you have faith. It is about being changed by the love of Jesus Christ, the grace of God our Father, and the gift of the Holy Spirit that we can say, “I am his and he is mine.” Living that truth out won’t always be easy, but I’m excited to partner with the teens as they make their faith their own.

Jacob Bancroft