Modern culture has created a mold for today’s young men and young women, and too many are allowing themselves to be poured right into it. Young people are depicted as self-absorbed, ungrateful, anti-social, materialistic individuals, who are given to a lifestyle of instant satisfaction, sexual abandonment and irresponsible behavior. (Notice, that is not my view, but how young people are often depicted by others in today’s society.) In the home, they are portrayed as “running the show”—knowing more than the parents, having more sense than the parents and being more adept at raising themselves and ruling the house than their parents. We’ve been so conditioned to expect this of today’s young people that to find one who steps out of that mold and behaves as a responsible human being is quite a sight!
Young men and young women, it is time to be what God intended for you to be! God’s young people are like Shem, Ham and Japheth, who respected their father’s instructions over the opinions of their friends! God’s young people are like Isaac, who trusted his father to know and to do what was in his best interest! God’s young people are like Joseph, who resisted and fled sexual opportunities that were offered to him! God’s young people are like Reuben, who stood up to his brothers, in order to do what he finally realized was right! God’s young people are like Joshua and Caleb (and like Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego), who did not go along with the crowd, but took a stand for what they knew was right (based upon God’s revelation of right) and in the face of what they knew was wrong! God’s young people are like Samuel who humbly said to God, “Speak, for Your servant hears,” and then spoke God’s Word, even if the message may have been offensive to its hearers! God’s young people are like David, who stood up to the imposing enemy of God, even when no one else had the courage to do it! God’s young people are like Jonathan, who chose a godly friendship to the detriment of his own potential power and prosperity! God’s young people are like Josiah, who learned God’s will and changed the course of an entire nation! God’s young people are like Jesus, who was respectful and obedient to His parents, when He may have been the only child in history who might have known better than them! God’s young people are like Timothy, who set a Christian example for everyone else to follow! Young men and young women, it is time!
Modern culture has utterly twisted what God designed young men and young women to be! Whether it is popular or not, whether it fits the mold or not, we need young people who will go back to what God designed for them to be! Our families will be better for it, society will be better for it, and each young person will be better for it! It is time!
-David Sproule
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