THE PEOPLE WE FOLLOW HELP SHAPE US. 

SCRIPTURE | 2 Kings 2:1-14 

CENTRAL TRUTH 

Ultimately, we’re called to follow in Jesus’s footsteps—to live like He lived and to point others to Him. His footsteps are the ones that matter most. 

KEY QUESTION 

HOW CAN WE CARRY WHAT WE’VE LEARNED FROM JESUS? 

KEEP IN MIND 

Current culture values individualism—a belief that we’re who we are regardless of who we’re around—that we’re our own person. But the truth is that as believers, we’re not our own (1 Cor. 6:19); we belong to Christ. And as part of this truth, we’re also accountable to other people. It’s important to help students understand this truth. Culture teaches them to live their own lives without worrying how it could affect others; it teaches them to do what makes them happy or what feels right and that what’s right for them may not be right for others. Scripture teaches something very different: Our lives are intertwined with others. We are the “body of Christ,” and each part of the body affects the rest of the body (1 Cor. 12:26-27). God created our students as unique individuals, but they can’t buy into the mindset that other people don’t help shape them or that they don’t help shape other people. 

APPLICATION 

WHAT DO YOU WANT YOUR LEGACY TO BE? WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE SO THAT IT REFLECTS A LOVE OF CHRIST? 

THE WIN 

FOR THE STUDENT: Our students’ minutes, days, and years will add up to tell a story. Instead of their stories being about sports, popularity, good grades, and financial success, our students’ lives can tell the story that they loved God more than anything else. 

FOR THE LEADER: If we’re honest, our struggle is the same as our students’ struggle: We want our legacy to be about our worldly successes. But if our legacy is about anything other than Christ, then we’ve wasted our minutes, our days, and our years on what’s fleeting rather than on what’s eternal.