Session 2“I Don’t Want to Waste My Life”

Semse lived in the country of Turkey, where Islam is not only the predominant religion, but also the identity of its citizens. To be Turkish is to be Muslim. As an exemplary biblical disciple, Semse rejected this nationalistic identity and embraced her true identity in Christ. She did so at great risk and counted the cost of living as a stranger and alien in her own country. Semse knew who she was—whose she was—and that understanding propelled her to turn away from valuing her temporary identity in this world over her identity in Christ.

• How might Semse have behaved differently if she had considered her national identity more valuable than her identity in Christ?

Read Colossians 3:1–3.

• How do these verses inform your view of your identity in Christ?
• What are some earthly things believers may pursue that distract them from living obediently for Christ?
• How does pursuing these earthly things lead us to living a wasted life?

Read 1 Corinthians 13:4–8. As you read, hear the words as a description of how God intends us, his followers, to approach those who are lost so that we may share the love and truth of Christ with them.

• In what ways are some of our approaches to the lost actually arrogant, insistent, and boastful?
• How do we harm the message of God’s unquenchable love if we—God’s messengers—are impatient, irritable, arrogant, unkind, or rude to people who need to know and experience it?

Ask God to give you eyes to see those like Richard, Sabina, and Necati who might be viewed as “unreachable”—and then ask God to give you the courage to share your faith with them.