This week’s blog, written by Daniel Stevens, is sponsored by the D3 Conference. Dr. Stevens, a professor at Boyce College, will teach during the breakout sessions at the March 27–28, 2025 youth conference in Louisville, Kentucky.
“Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts” wrote John Calvin in Institutes of Christian Religion, “the knowledge of God and of ourselves.”
If this is so, ours is a profoundly unwise age. It is not simply that we as a culture have lost our knowledge of God, but that in so doing we have also lost sight of ourselves. “Who am I?” is the question of the age. We are doubly adrift, with no sense of God to anchor our understanding of the world, and no true sense of self to ground us within our own lives.
Instead, we are spent in the fruitless project of trying to create ourselves. We craft personalities on social media, presenting exactly the pictures and words we want projected. We pick subjects in school and aim at careers that we think will give us meaning, that will lead us to find ourselves, to make ourselves. We are burdened more than we can bear as we try to tell the world, and then tell ourselves, who we really are.
But there is a better way.
It is not simply that we as a culture have lost our knowledge of God, but that in so doing we have also lost sight of ourselves.
Daniel Stevens
Jesus calls out to each and every one of us, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). He tells us that if we do, we will find life and have it abundantly (John 5:40, 10:10), that if we die to ourselves, losing our life for his sake, then we will truly save our lives (Matt. 10:39, 16:25, Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24). In following Jesus, we not only find him, we find ourselves. We not only receive His life, we are truly given our own lives as well. We find ourselves not in an endless pursuit of self-expression, but in being found by Jesus. We receive ourselves from him.
During the D3 Youth Conference, your student will hear clear, Scripture-based answers to help them stand firm in their faith. Join us March 7-8, 2025 as we seek to grow our understanding and application of God’s Word as our foundation for clarity and truth.
To learn about topics discussed during D3, click the link below: https://www.d3youth.com/conference-schedule
