We watched To Save a Life tonight at youth group. Now, lately I've been saying different movies, like Inception, Salt, Avatar etc are my new favorite movies, but this one was different. All those movies, were cool. They were suspenseful, action filled, very well made visually wise...but To Save a Life was different. It opened my eyes to problems that I always new existed, but I never really took to heart.
Teen suicide.
Teen pregnancy.
Teen alcoholism.
Teen drug abuse.
Teen, teen, teen.
Why is it that the teens of our generation are like magnets to these issues? Is it the fact that we like to rebel? We want attention? We want acceptance from our friends? We have a part of us that isn't satisfied?
I think it's a combination of all of those.
God has given me a heart for my generation. I don't even know how to put into words how I feel but it breaks my heart to see kids my age chase after things that are only fulfilling in the moment. I'll be honest, I am guilty as well. I too have ran after things that will only hurt me more in the end, and I times I still do. But I always come back to the realization that there is only One thing who can make me happy.
I don't want to sound like that youth pastor you heard a few years ago when you tried the whole "church thing", or your parents, or some religious freak, but quiet frankly, it's true.
I was never truly happy until I found the love of Jesus.
In 8th grade I was depressed; wanted to commit suicide. In this movie, Roger is the senior in high school who killed himself. And he says something to his former friend Jake right before he pulls the trigger. "It's too late to care Jake; it's not like you ever did before."
I don't want to be a Jake, or a Roger for that matter, but I don't want to be the one who was never there; who never cared.
For the past two years, I went to a school that laughed at Jesus. They laughed at the demeaning Jesus pencil toppers or Jesus toasters. And again, I'll admit, I laughed along with them.
But the love of Jesus Christ is nothing to laugh at. That act of kindness and grace He gave Himself for, is what can save us, the only thing that can save us. I know for a fact that I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Him. It wasn't my own choice, it wasn't my own strength, it was God. Like I said before, I can't put into words how I feel, how much this means to me and how much it breaks my heart.
Kari Jobe has a song that I love, and I think it shows how I feel better than I can write
I wanna sit at your feet
drink from the cup in your hand.
Lay back against you and breath,
hear your heart beat
This love is so deep,
it's more than I can stand.
I melt in your peace, it's overwhelming
That, right there, is available to us, if we only ask for it.
Jesus Christ's love, is the only thing able To Save a Life.
