YEAH NAH: Saying Yes to God & No to the WorldSample

So you’ve come to youth and got fired up to live a set apart life. You want to say a bold “yes” to God’s good ways, and a firm “no” to the world’s ways. But now it’s Monday morning and you’re back in the same old school. Now what? Where do you start? Living for Jesus starts in the heart. 

“The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

When everyone else is interested in the outward appearance, God is interested in what’s happening on the inside. When Samuel comes to choose the new King of Israel, he chooses the person who looks like the best king—strong, handsome, fit. But God had not chosen him. One by one, the guys who looked the part are rejected as king, until the last son is brought out from the field, David, a young man with the right heart (Acts 13:22). 

There’s so much to worry about at school: grades, popularity, reputation, being funny, being the fittest, being in the right group. But it’s the heart that counts the most. Proverbs 4:23 “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” How can we be set apart at school? It starts in our heart—a heart that loves Jesus, a heart that loves others, and a heart that chooses to put God first before anything else. 

Ask yourself, what can I do to put Jesus first in my heart at school this week? How can I have a heart that loves others (not just my friends) this week?