From January 2nd through January 5th, over 2,500 college students from schools all over the nation took over downtown Oklahoma City for the Student Mobilization Conference of 2016. We all felt quite a few things (the importance of floor seats and the desperation for sleep) and we all learned quite a few things ('Hello' remix is the best we've ever heard and we can't figure out how to feel about the phrase 'me-hole'), but the Lord made sure we left with a certain message and we want to share it with YOU!
As college students, it is very easy to forget about the Lord's commands and to only focus on not doing bad, but it leads to a mediocre Christian life: one without much purpose, without much celebration, and without much love. We try and try to fix it by attending campus ministries and attending church and tithing our money away, and we are simply left spiritually dead and exhausted and empty.
So, we must remember the Gospel in its most beautiful and purest form. God's love put Jesus on the cross in order for us to know Him and in order for us to be like Him. The one true reason Jesus died for our sins wasn't because of how many sins we had done or how evil our hearts were naturally, but plainly and simply because of love, love, love.
Our purpose is very clear. We have been left searching for the answers to 'what's next?' and 'now what?' all of our lives, and the answer is that Jesus simply wants us in on His mission. The Savior of the world has had a command and a plan for us all along, and He wants us as His teammates.
Matthew 28:18-20; "And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. GO therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”"
So we have this great command and a great promise following it, and we have continuously ignored it. We constantly feel it in our hearts that we aren't worthy or that we won't be good enough, and over these evil whispers He shouts to us, "You are free, child! You are free; say YES!" The King of all creation sees us as worthy of laboring with Him to carry out His plan for the entire world. WOW! So we must cling on to the promise that rids us of all of our fears and anxieties and worries: that He is with us always.
Always! Always! Always! Jesus is with us, always. He is saying 'YES' to us, always. He is loving us, always. He is guiding us, always. He is teaching us, always. He is providing for us, always. He is redeeming us, always, always, always.
Our hearts are full and our lives are free because of Him, and we all must say yes. And because He is good and perfect in all of His ways and is with us always, we can simply know that everything will be fine and immeasurably more.
God's love and redemption is much, much too sweet to walk away from. God's command for evangelism and discipleship is much, much too important to forget. God's promises are much, much too freeing to ignore.
This weekend, our hearts were sweetly filled to the point of overflowing and our hands reached out in desperation and hunger for more of the Lord's promises and truth and love and freedom and redemption and grace, and we want to shout it from the mountaintops.
You'll be seeing us at SMC 2017; come with us and let the Lord transform your heart from the inside out.
