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I write this blog post while still in the thick of things. We have not gone through these teen years and are not yet on the other side. Our boys are 10 , 12 , 14 and 16 and so, we are very much in it.
I guess I write this blog with a very heavy heart. That young men and women profess Christ as Saviour stands and in our community precious young people are baptized as a public declaration that Jesus is their saviour.
and then......
They struggle on in a world that is increasingly hostile to Jesus and a world that offers them thrill and pleasure . Being cool and being accepted are still the same age old pulls but the offers of what that looks like hold a heavy price for Teens who call themselves Christ Followers.
Teenagers have real choices to make.
* to swear or not to swear as a way of talking ( not the odd mistake)
* to honour the opposite sex and not hook up at parties or hook up
* to date or not to date
* to drink
* to drug
* to love others as Christ has loved them or to live a self serving life
* to work hard or to opt out
* to honour their parents or to disregard them
All these choices and many more stand before them continuously.
The answers seem clear to me and the choices certain and yet around us we see the sad reality of young people professing Christ as saviour but failing to live with him as LORD.
Families loosing their children to the choice of living life in the world.
Choosing Jesus over the world is a very, very difficult choice to make , especially when you are 16 but to know Jesus is to choose him. But it is a real choice and one that Jesus himself will honour. Those who honour him in this life, he will honour.
And so , how do we , as parents and friends to these precious young people, offer Jesus as the choice.
Our approach is to offer him in and through his word which is certain and tue and where I know he will speak to their hearts. We offer Jesus by talking , talking, talking Christ into ALL of life and we offer Jesus as he is and as he finds us- messy and human.
We pray!!!
We trust God.
We forgive when they muck up and point them to Jesus.
The gospel is for our teens.
What we do not do is say this, " They are going to do it anyway and so here is the safe way to help them."
If this blog post does anything at all, I pray it will stir those parents on who have given up. Do not give up!!
Stand up and speak life into your teens world. Help them by loving them and showing them who Jesus is in all his glory so that they too can know him and need not take the wide road that leads to destruction but the narrow road that leads to life.
They may still choose not to profess Jesus but not because you were quiet.
Why would you want anything other for your teen?
All the hooking up and feeling up not only dishonours and breaks the other person but it brings Christs name into disrepute.
Not only that but the freedom sought and thought of in all this hooking up is not freedom at all.
It is bondage and breakage for the future.
Saying no is a godly choice and God will strengthen and honour you. Your teen may not be cool at school but he is cool to the king.
Thank you Caren for this honest and insightful post! You are an inspiration to many but especially your family.Keep on keeping on. xxx
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