Middle school can feel like one giant question:
Do I belong?
Who picked me?
Who didn’t?
Who invited me?
Who left me out?
Who saved me a seat?
Who didn’t?
Because somewhere inside all of us is this question:
Am I wanted?
And that’s where we begin with the first Person of the Trinity:
GOD THE FATHER — YOU ARE WANTED.
The Bible says in Ephesians 1:3–5 that God the Father chose us and wanted to adopt us into His family.
Think about that.
Before your friends picked you—or didn’t pick you—
God the Father chose you.
Before you ever wondered where you belonged—
God the Father wanted you in His family.
Not because you were cool enough.
Funny enough.
Athletic enough.
Attractive enough.
Or because you had the right clothes, the right grades, or the right friends.
He wanted you because He loves you.
And the Bible gives Him a name:
Father.
Now, that word can bring up very different feelings.
Some of you have incredible dads.
Some have complicated relationships with your dad.
Some barely know your dad.
Some have been hurt by your dad.
But your experience with your earthly father does not determine what God the Father is like.
God the Father is perfectly good.
Perfectly loving.
And He wants you.
But there’s a problem.
Because the people God wants?
We mess things up.
GOD THE SON — YOU ARE WORTH RESCUING.
Have you ever done something and immediately wished life had an UNDO button?
You sent the text.
Joined in making fun of somebody.
Lied.
Clicked something.
Lost your temper.
Cheated.
Betrayed a friend.
And almost immediately you thought:
Why did I do that?
The Bible has a word for the deeper problem underneath all of this:
Sin.
And Christianity doesn’t pretend sin isn’t a big deal.
Our sin separates us from a holy God.
But Christianity also doesn’t say:
“Try harder, clean yourself up, become a better person, and maybe God will accept you.”
Instead, God came looking for us.
This is the second Person of the Trinity:
God the Son — Jesus Christ.
Jesus is not simply a really good person who showed us how to live.
Jesus is God the Son who became human.
Creator.
Sustainer.
Shepherd.
King.
Mediator.
And He came for you.
Jesus willingly took the judgment our sin deserved so that we could be forgiven and brought back to God.
But there’s something really important here.
God the Son didn’t convince God the Father to love you.
The Father already loved you.
That’s why He sent the Son.
1 John 4:10 says that love begins not with us loving God, but with God loving us and sending His Son for us.
The Father wanted you.
The Son came to rescue you.
But then what?
Because tomorrow you still have to go to school.
Tomorrow temptation will still be there.
Tomorrow somebody will annoy you.
Tomorrow somebody may say something about you.
Tomorrow you might feel insecure again.
Tomorrow you might want to do the exact thing you promised yourself you’d never do again.
Does God the Son forgive you and then basically say:
“Good luck out there”?
No.
Because there is a third Person of the Trinity.
GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT — YOU AREN’T DOING THIS ALONE.
The Holy Spirit is God.
Not a force.
Not a feeling.
Not some kind of spiritual energy.
The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity.
And when you follow Jesus, God the Holy Spirit lives in you.
That changes everything.
When something inside you says:
I know I shouldn’t be doing this…
The Holy Spirit convicts.
When you’re trying to understand what God says is true…
The Holy Spirit teaches.
When you know what’s right but don’t think you have the strength to actually do it…
The Holy Spirit strengthens.
And when you wonder if you’re ever going to become different…
The Holy Spirit transforms.
Because God isn’t only interested in making you behave better.
God the Holy Spirit is changing who you are becoming.
Following Jesus isn’t God standing far away yelling:
TRY HARDER!
God has come near.
And this is why the Trinity matters.
The Trinity isn’t just some confusing Christian math problem you’re supposed to understand.
It tells you who God is.
And once you understand who God is, it changes the way you understand you.
GOD THE FATHER — I AM WANTED.
GOD THE SON — I AM RESCUED.
GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT — I AM NOT ALONE.
So tomorrow, when you walk into the cafeteria and wonder where you belong—
Remember God the Father.
Before anyone picked you—or didn’t pick you—
He wanted you.
When you’re lying in bed replaying something you did and wishing you could somehow undo it—
Remember God the Son, Jesus Christ.
Your worst moment doesn’t get the final word.
Jesus came to rescue you.
And when following Jesus gets hard, when you know what’s right but you’re not sure you have the courage or strength to actually do it—
Remember God the Holy Spirit.
God didn’t save you and then leave you to figure everything out by yourself.
His Spirit lives in you.
So when you wonder if you belong—
You do.
When you wonder if your worst mistake defines you—
It doesn’t.
When you wonder if you have to figure all of this out on your own—
You don’t.
Because God the Father wants you.
God the Son rescued you.
God the Holy Spirit is with you.
One God. Three Persons. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
You are wanted.
You are rescued.
You are not alone.
And maybe that’s why the Trinity matters a whole lot more to your middle school life than you thought.
phillipbrande.com 