STOP HANDING YOUNG PEOPLE THIS LIFE SCRIPT.

I’m sure you’ve heard this script before.

It goes something like this:

Study hard →get good grades →get into a “good” college →land a “good” job →make a “good” income →retire well →have lots of fun along the way.

Sound familiar?

Sure, it’s a broad generalization, and none of those things are bad—but for years we’ve handed the next generation a middle-class checklist and told our kids it’s the path to the good life.

We’ve promised happiness if you follow the formula.

As a millennial, I heard it on repeat.

And you’ll still hear adults tell teens the same thing today—especially if a student asks, “Why does school even matter?”

Inside the faith community, we recognize the emptiness of that approach.

So, we do our best to fill the emptiness by pointing them to Jesus (amen!) — but when it’s time to talk about their future—we end up handing teens the same old script.

That’s the problem, not because grades or jobs don’t matter, but because our scripts are spotlighting the wrong purpose.

Recent surveys indicate that nearly 60% of young adults feel life has no meaning or purpose.

That shouldn’t surprise us if the story they’ve been handed is, “life is about you.”

Our blueprints train young people to chase personal happiness, then hope meaning shows up later.

It’s time to change the script.

And the change isn’t about making the old roadmap more flexible or relevant.

The goal is to stop handing students a script that begins and ends with them.

Young people need a clear vision that ties their everyday lives to God’s larger story.

They need a narrative that answers, “Why am I here?”

Scripture gives us the foundation: we are created to glorify God, serve others, and partner with Him in His redeeming work.

As next-gen author Dr. Kara Powell puts it, students need to know that our lives matter because we are part of an ongoing plot of what God has done, is doing, and will do in our world.

That perspective doesn’t erase college, careers, or life’s blessings—it reshapes how we see them.

What if the message we repeated was: Make your life about serving God and others?

What if every career path was framed as an opportunity to contribute to the Kingdom?

We need more followers of Jesus carrying a Kingdom purpose into their workplaces, communities, and homes.

The old script isn’t producing the right motivations or lasting purpose.

Let’s hand students a better vision—one that propels them to make a real difference for His glory.

That’s the good life.