Convicted Living and the Next Generation
I am surrounded by young people. I have three of my own. I teach 6th and 8th-grade students at a private middle school full time. I hang out with 20 somethings on a regular basis in my spare time. Needless to say, I have many people from the younger generations that filter through my life from week to week, and I am learning much from them.
One of the great needs I see as I hang out with these individuals is the need for them to develop their own convictions based on God's Word. They are in the process of making their faith their own and need encouragement to not base their beliefs on what they have been told, but on what God's Word actually says.
For instance, Can they find a verse on a topic when they are struggling? Do they know how to go to the Scripture and search out what is troubling them to find answers? Do they believe God is who He says He is? Will they take that Bible with them and open it for answers, direction, and protection when they go to college or start their own family? Can they find the verses to witness to a lost friend? Do they feel cut to the heart when they sin because they have neglected God's Word? Do they really believe John 10:10 which says, "The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I (Jesus) have come that they may have life and have it to the full."
You see, exposure to truth is not enough. At some point, each of us has to personalize our faith. We do not help the next generation by giving them all the answers, but instead, by teaching them to go to God for answers. We should be greatly burdened to pray for the next generation. We should take time to invest in their lives by challenging them to get into God's Word on their own and let God begin to speak to them. We should be intentional to ask them what the Lord is teaching them. We should be "real" with them and show them what God looks like in our everyday lives as we succeed and as we fail.
I was so burdened as I read Nathan's words to David in II Samuel 12:9a this week... "Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes?" Why do we sin? Why does the next generation sin? Simply said, we just don't take God's Word seriously. You see, personal conviction comes as we accept God's Word as right, and we see clearly that our sin is against His Word and His Heart. II Samuel 12:13 illustrates this point. David finally stops denying, rationalizing, covering, and running and cries out, "I have sinned against the Lord."
We will not change the young people in our lives through lecturing, guilting, cloning, or controlling. We will see change as we live out our convictions in front of them. We will see change as we invest in them and teach them how to get a hold of God in His Word for themselves. We will see change as we see them one by one develop a personal conviction based on God's Word. We will see change as we come alongside them to encourage them to take God's Word seriously and personally and to pass it on to those God puts around them.
Thank the Lord for the young people in your life and pray for them to rise up into a Holy Nation! Find a young adult this week you can encourage in God's Word. Pray for that individual to personalize their faith. Ask God to show you your part in influencing the next generation to personalize their faith.
One of the great needs I see as I hang out with these individuals is the need for them to develop their own convictions based on God's Word. They are in the process of making their faith their own and need encouragement to not base their beliefs on what they have been told, but on what God's Word actually says.
For instance, Can they find a verse on a topic when they are struggling? Do they know how to go to the Scripture and search out what is troubling them to find answers? Do they believe God is who He says He is? Will they take that Bible with them and open it for answers, direction, and protection when they go to college or start their own family? Can they find the verses to witness to a lost friend? Do they feel cut to the heart when they sin because they have neglected God's Word? Do they really believe John 10:10 which says, "The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I (Jesus) have come that they may have life and have it to the full."
You see, exposure to truth is not enough. At some point, each of us has to personalize our faith. We do not help the next generation by giving them all the answers, but instead, by teaching them to go to God for answers. We should be greatly burdened to pray for the next generation. We should take time to invest in their lives by challenging them to get into God's Word on their own and let God begin to speak to them. We should be intentional to ask them what the Lord is teaching them. We should be "real" with them and show them what God looks like in our everyday lives as we succeed and as we fail.
I was so burdened as I read Nathan's words to David in II Samuel 12:9a this week... "Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes?" Why do we sin? Why does the next generation sin? Simply said, we just don't take God's Word seriously. You see, personal conviction comes as we accept God's Word as right, and we see clearly that our sin is against His Word and His Heart. II Samuel 12:13 illustrates this point. David finally stops denying, rationalizing, covering, and running and cries out, "I have sinned against the Lord."
We will not change the young people in our lives through lecturing, guilting, cloning, or controlling. We will see change as we live out our convictions in front of them. We will see change as we invest in them and teach them how to get a hold of God in His Word for themselves. We will see change as we see them one by one develop a personal conviction based on God's Word. We will see change as we come alongside them to encourage them to take God's Word seriously and personally and to pass it on to those God puts around them.
Thank the Lord for the young people in your life and pray for them to rise up into a Holy Nation! Find a young adult this week you can encourage in God's Word. Pray for that individual to personalize their faith. Ask God to show you your part in influencing the next generation to personalize their faith.
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