A God Above Statistics

“If your time to you is worth saving, then you better start swimming or you’ll sink like a stone.” –Bob Dylan

Statistics say that only 20% of kids who are involved in church and committed to Christ will maintain the same level of commitment to Christ after they graduate. An additional 20% say that the church never reached them adequately, so they become disengaged from the church and Christ. Basically, as someone who works with youth, I’m staring an 80% failure rate right in the face. That may earn your keep in professional baseball, but not in ministry. I see that and say, “Unacceptable.” But as I’ve wrestled through these statistics, the reasons for them, and what I can do to overcome them, I’ve realized that first and foremost, God is above statistics. He is above human reasoning and emotions. He is above our excuses.

I think we walk away from our faith in God because we’ve lost sight of the most important thing- our relationship with God. In Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus talks about building our house on a solid foundation. He says that the foundation is laid by hearing His words and putting them into practice. However, I think we’ve missed the point of these verses. If you look at the preceding verses (7:21-23), you find that what Jesus really wants is for His people to know Him. This means that to build the proper foundation, we need to move from hearing to saying and doing to truly saying and doing. What does it mean to truly say and do? It means that everything we say and do flows from the fact that we know and love God and that we are known and loved by God. In other words, it comes from a relationship with God that is deep and lasting, not shallow and superficial. That kind of relationship transcends any circumstances in life.

If in our own lives, we are constantly relying on and resting in a God that is above everything, circumstances become less relevant. If in our ministry, we are showing kids this kind of relationship, they will not just become statistics. Look at statistics and become overwhelmed or look at statistics and see a hope that God is above them. The latter is what God wants, the former just wastes time. The question to myself is this: Will I waste anymore time?