What Should I Do?

Story

Most people, Christian or not, think that believing in Jesus means we're generally supposed to be “nice” to everybody. It turns out the truth is much more radical!

There’s a lot of pressure from the world (people who don’t follow Jesus) to act a certain way and believe certain things. Some of these things fit with a follower of Jesus, but many of them go against what the Bible teaches. When the world notices that you are different, it will try and turn you away from following Jesus. For kids, this pressure is POWERFUL, and they often can’t resist the need to fit in. To be a Christian means to be different from everybody, which means the world will see you as strange if you act on your beliefs. Get ready!

When I first became a Christian, I was 15. At that time, I had a LOT of questions about what the Bible had to say about the world I was living in. I felt a strong desire to change things about my life that went against God. I stopped using bad language, listening to bad music, and tried to listen to my mom a whole lot more. I even started doing my homework on time! A lot of the changes brought positive attention from my friends, but also a lot of questions about what I believed. Since I trusted God, I believed what the Bible said, which disagreed with what my friends thought. At times there were hard conversations—and I even lost some friends. Since a lot of my friends were doing things that went against what God wanted for me, I found I had less people to hang out with for a while.

Sometimes it was hard being different, but knowing I was doing what God wanted brought me peace, and I didn’t worry. I had this feeling that even when life wasn’t always fun, I was a part of God’s big story, which made me joyful.

I understood I should love people like God does, even if they were different from me or were mean to me at times. By the time I finished high school, most of the friends I lost came back around. The way I treated them softened their hearts, since they knew I loved them no matter what. We would never be as close, but they knew what I believed was real. I still pray for them sometimes.

Bible

Have an adult read Romans 12 to you, or read it to them. There’s a lot of good information here for Christians who want to know what to do!

Think

Romans 12 answers the big question new Christians often have, which is, “What do I do?” Read Romans 12:1–2. The first thing we do is give ourselves to God. In Bible times, a sacrifice was usually an animal that was burnt up to pay for the people's sins. What Paul, the writer of Romans, is saying is that we should offer ourselves up like sacrifices, except for instead of being burnt up, we live for Him. Sounds like a much better deal, right? By offering ourselves to Him, we say we want to do what He wants. As we look to God for how we should live, we show everyone what He wants.

We can change the way we think by reading His Word, praying, and spending time with other Christians. This will help us renew our minds to be more like Him.

The rest of Romans 12 is all about how we should treat one another, which is basically better than we’re treating them now! Jesus said it best when He said, “Do to others like you would have them do to you.” There’s lots to learn about being a Christian, but in the end it really is simple: love God and love others! If you do both of those things, you’ll be different in a way that makes people want to know more about Jesus.

Do Something

When you wake up every day, the first thing you can say is, “Good morning, Jesus! Help me remember You today!” If you offer yourself to Him like this, it's easier to remember what you should do when you walk out the front door and into the world.

Every person you meet is a chance to show them the love of Jesus. All you need to do is treat them like they matter to you, no matter if they’re the new kid or even an enemy. Remember, that’s how you would want to be treated by them. God’s love is a lot more radical than just being “nice” after all!