Open Letter to the Youth of our Nation
 

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Open your heart and look inside it. Look at the raw and empty places. Look at the confusion. Look at it head on. When you face it in the right way, you won't have to be afraid of it. The pain was intended to destroy you, but God wants it to make you stronger and kinder.

This is a special moment in our nation. Don't step out of the moment yet. The Spirit of God is descending with great grace. You can be changed. Your heart can be softer.

In this time of mourning, God has something He wants to say to YOU, personally. He knows exactly who you are, as you read this. He knows every detail of your life and why you do the things you do. He knows about your most painful moments and most embarrassing secrets. He knows about your dreams--the good ones and the bad ones. He knows why certain things make you hurt so bad and why other things strike you funny.

He has known all about you since before you were born; while you swam and kicked inside in your mother's womb, His hand was putting you together. He already knows what you will do with your life on earth, how long it will be, and how it will end. There is nothing hidden from Him. This may frighten you, or make you feel secure. Ideally, it should do a little of the first and a lot of the second. He knows everything--and He wants you to know that He really, really, really, loves you! In spite of what you've done, or haven't done, He loves you. In spite of how you've made fun of church or hated it, or were bored in it, He loves you. In the face of all your temptations--and even when you fail--He loves you. In spite of the mean things you've done to other kids--and in spite of the mean things they've done to you--He loves you and counts your life as precious. This is the most important thing you can realize right now. It is the only place to begin. Without the truth of God's love and forgiveness, you have nothing in life.

Perhaps you are afraid to go to your school; afraid that yours might be the next to be hit with violence. Even without guns, your school may already be filled with violence--violence with words in the cruel things people say--the popularity game you never wanted to play. Maybe you want to try to change things at your school but you aren't sure how to begin, or if it is even possible. Or perhaps you are just groping for a place of the heart where you can rest and cry--where strength and life and healing can wash through you and over you.

Most likely, it is a combination of all of the above that you feel--and even more than that. You are looking for something else that you can't even define. If you could put it into words you might say that you want things to be right. To be fair. To be true and kind. To be lovely. You want a place of innocence and wisdom combined. A place that calls at your heart like rain in the wildlands, the rocking of the ocean, the freedom of a full tank of gas and an open road, the glittering of the planets on a clear winter evening, or the rhythm of your favorite music.

You want the world to taste like ripe Bing cherries on a summer day, and to cradle you like a down comforter after a hard day of work. Instead, perhaps your face rings with blood from a hand slapped across your mouth. Perhaps you lie down in loneliness, afraid deep down inside that there is nothing really out there after all; that the universe is empty and that someday your existence will be forgotten.

Is this how you feel?

I want you to know that we've all felt the same way at times.

I am not here to give you pat answers. I am here to reach out for truth with you; the thing we all want. Truth is huge; bigger than we can fully see right now. However, it does exist. And in the tiny place of our life on this earth, we are given glimpses of it--glimpses so pure and so beautiful that all the rest of the words shouted around us slip into oblivion. The best thing about truth is that once you find it, it grows bigger and bigger inside of you, like a massive tree from a small seed of faith. It makes you love what is good and righteous and wise and merciful. In spite of what we've seen in the world, these things do still exist. Truth also makes us hate what is faithless, and cruel, and vengeful and haughty, for these exist as well. If someone tells you these things are not real, you can be sure that they don't have the truth within them.

There are rights and wrongs in this world. There are both true and false beliefs. If there weren't, you wouldn't be searching for truth, propelled by something deep within you. You wouldn't even care. Never believe the person who tells you there is no such thing as truth or right and wrong. There are--and they have consequences, both in this life and in the one to come. The responsibility to choose truth and righteousness is ours. It is not a one-time choice, but a series of choices we are faced with every day. The decision is ours.

Remember when I said that we should feel both comforted and fearful about the fact that God sees and knows everything? We can draw comfort from the fact that He knows who we are personally and that He has a plan for our lives, and loves us despite all we've done. On the other hand, it is wisdom to "fear" the Lord (to respect and honor Him above any other thing). One day we will each have to stand in front of Him and give an account of our lives--everything we've done, and our motives. On that day, we will look Truth in the face, and there will be no excuses or justification for the evil we have done or the good we neglected to do. Some of our most wicked deeds will be exposed as the ones that we thought were quite harmless. And some of our most righteous deeds will be exposed as mere vanity and pride.

Does this scare you? It should--in the right way. You see, God wants us know what is coming. He wants us to know that He will judge each of us someday. He hasn't kept it a big secret--in fact He warns us throughout the Bible. He has even built this principal into our justice systems, schools, and the very laws of nature. We learn that if we put our hand on a hot stove, we get burned. And so we learn that there are consequences for all our actions, whether we see them immediately or not. Why does God warn us? The answer is simple--He doesn't want us to fail the test when we stand before Him. He warns us out of love.

Do you want to know how you can pass the final Test? It begins right here in this life--right now. All the little things that fill your heart with hunger, are meant to lead you to the Answer. If you follow each of those little trails, you will see they all lead back to one place--the One who created you for a purpose. You will never be complete until you know your purpose and you will never know your purpose until you know the One who made you. It is very simple. Don't let its simplicity confuse you. It only becomes complicated when we try to become more "wise" than we really are.

Jesus said that we cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven unless we change and become like little children--and are born again by His spirit. Do you want to pass the final Test? You cannot do it without believing in Jesus! If someone tells you that you can, you can be sure the truth is not in that person. Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father except through Me."

Jesus didn't come to Earth to exclude most of its inhabitants. He didn't come to earth to condemn us either. We already were condemned in our cycle of shame, despair, and death! He came to rescue those who are "poor in spirit"--those who are humble enough to admit that they are sinners in desperate need of His grace and forgiveness. He knew in our own righteousness we could not stand before God without hanging our head in shame--the way many of us do now. He knew that God's greatest desire (and ours too, if we have the eyes to recognize it) is to be united with Him. To be His friend. To walk with Him in unity, with all fear removed. To be cleansed of the sin and death that eat away at the core of this earth and our hearts--and to replace that death with life more clean and holy and beautiful than any of us can imagine.

If you are still reading, I want you to know it is the Spirit of God who has brought you this far. You can make peace with Him right now. Do it in your heart--believe in Him...And then tell someone else. If you truly believe in your heart, show it by your life. Nothing else will change your school--or the world.

God has entrusted holy and sacred things to all of us, even those who do not believe in Him. One of the main ones is the ability to love. This sacred power is the only thing that is stronger than death.

With this power, you can save a life. Maybe hundreds. You can reach out, unafraid and not intimidated, to that person who is so different than you, and show them that God loves them. You can choose not to judge them based on the outside, whether they seem too strange, or too weak, or too popular, or too smart, or too quiet, or too messed-up. Underneath all of that, is a person who is pretty much like you--a person who needs God, and is trying in the best way they know how to keep from getting hurt. You can give mercy to them, even if they don't deserve it (no one does)--and even if they don't take it. You can choose not to "murder" them by gossiping about them or hating them in your heart. Even if it doesn't seem to make a bit of difference, be patient. Forgive. Don't let resentment pile up in your heart. Pray for the kids at your school.

Pray for your teachers and your parents as well. Respect them if for no other reason than God has commanded you to. The adults need your prayers and love as much as you need theirs. In fact the only commandment given specifically to children in the Bible, is to honor their parents. Your parents have a responsibility to help you and protect you. Learn from them. Obey them.

Finally, be careful where you let your eyes go. Just as your natural body can feast on junk food and even poison, so your eyes and ears can feast on things that are deadly to your spirit. Just because it "tastes good" doesn't mean it is good for you. If someone tells you that these things will not affect you, don't believe them. Protect your spirit and your body. Walk away from things that would pollute and kill you. Walk away from other kids who are doing things that destroy their spirit and body. Be kind to them. But don't do what they do.

I can tell you one thing that will happen if you do this. You can expect changes to take place in the world around you. But what may surprise you even more, is that you will change! Your world will stretch from a mile radius to the ends of the earth. You won't be afraid of the other kids at school. You won't be afraid to stand up for righteousness. You won't even be afraid if someone should hold a gun to your head and ask you if you are a Christian. Your heart will only grow larger and larger, full of the goodness and love of God and the peace that passes understanding, and forgiveness to those who would misunderstand you.

Know that there are those in this nation who are standing with you. Know that we care. Know that we have great hopes for your future, and we mourn with your losses. Even if we should let you down in some way, or fail your expectations, know that God won't. Look to Him and live for Him. Keep following Him and loving Him even through the best and worst times in your life. Don't give up on yourself or Him. Believe in Him, trust Him, cling to Him and rely on Him--and you will live forever.