Believing God’s Word and obeying Him leads to life.

SCRIPTURE | Deuteronomy 32:7-12,44-52

CENTRAL TRUTH

Culture mostly encourages us to live for ourselves and to chase what makes us feel good. It’s easy for us to get distracted by the things we do each day. Many times, the things that distract us aren’t inherently sinful, but we allow them to become our focus and our purpose. Over time, our relationship with God becomes stale. God feels distant because we neglect our relationship with Him. But if we’ll draw near to Him, He’ll draw near to us (James 4:8).

Key question

What causes us to grow distant from God or to forget Him in our daily lives?

Keep in Mind

Students can often make excuses for not walking closely with the Lord. If God feels distant or they’re making sinful decisions, they make excuses like these: they’ve been busy; the Bible is hard to understand; someone in the church hurt them; they see hypocrisy in the church. Here’s the truth: we are as close to God as we want to be. God lovingly went to great lengths to make a way for us to be near Him. He sent Jesus to die on our behalf and the Holy Spirit to guide us. God didn’t just “meet us halfway.” He came here. He came all the way. Instead of making excuses, we can take action to know Him more deeply. We can choose to remember God each day. We can encourage students to confess responsibility for not drawing close to God. He’s faithful to forgive them and wants a relationship with them.

APPLICATION

Have you struggled with complacency in your walk with God? What can you do to combat it?

THE WIN

FOR THE STUDENT: Students often associate emotional highs with being close to God. They come home from camp feeling excited about knowing God, but that emotional excitement usually wears off. This is why much of our relationship with God is a discipline. Incorporating spiritual disciplines—like reading Scripture, praying, worshiping, and serving—even when they don’t feel like it, keeps them from falling away when they struggle with complacency or apathy.

FOR THE LEADER: Consider sharing about spiritually dry seasons. Share with students how you worked through those seasons and fought against apathy or laziness.