Kristen Ivy spoke on the importance of trusting each other at her Youth Ministry Exchange talk. Similar to others, she talked about the importance of changing our posture. Here are my notes from her main session talk.
- Lesson from gymnastics: Wherever your eyes go, your body will follow.
- All of us feel fear, anger, and shame. They are all secondary feelings, caused by something, and they are all related
- Anger is how you see others.
- Fear is how you see the world.
- Shame is how you see yourself.
- When you feel these, you often also feel suspicion. And that suspicion fuels more anger, fear, and shame.
- When your heart is focused on suspicion, the rest of your life will follow.
- Jesus understood this, and spoke about it in His “Sermon on the Mount.”
- Matthew 7:7-8
- Ask, Seek, Knock.
- Instead, though, we want to say: Know, Assume, Defend.
- It’s a posture that God wants to respond to with generosity.
- We need to replace fear, anger, shame, and suspicion.
- Fascination > Suspicion
- Peace > Anger
- Trust > Fear
- Love > Shame
- Movie Illustration: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (Fred Rogers pursued fascination with Lloyd Vogel, and it changed his life.)
- We need to decide: I’m going to choose fascination, so I can lead a generation to be fascinated!
How are you choosing to pursue fascination driven by peace, trust, and love rather than suspicion driven by anger, fear, and shame? How will you continue to ask, seek, and knock?
Steve Cullum 