Choosing To Follow God

The teen years are a wonderful and exciting time of life. We are strong, energetic, optimistic, and there are so many outstanding opportunities available to us. While many focus on the negative, there is so much beauty to enjoy.

I want you to know today that you can make it. Don't let anybody convince you that you can't. If anybody ever calls you stupid or a nobody, that person is just misinformed. He just hasn't been around long enough to understand the plans God has for you.

"Choose ye this day whom you will serve". We are all capable of making bad choices. When it comes to moral issues, I make right choices most of the time. The reason I am able to do that is because I have had lots of practice. Anything that we want to be good at, we have to practice. It takes devotion, hard work, and a willingness to pay the price. If we do fail to make right choices, we will develop a poor reputation, and people will feel that we are not really committed.

Sooner or later, you will grow up and move out on your own. When you do, I want you to make it. But you need to start practicing now.

I can remember when I finished high school and left for the Air Force. The first thing I did was stay out all night. WRONG!!! I needed to practice being responsible for myself. Besides being tired and grumpy from a lack of sleep, I placed myself in the presence of wrong company.

If you have a job, you need to practice being responsible with your money. If you spend all your money on clothes, then you won't be able to buy food. If you have a cell phone and you talk too much, your bill will be so high that you can't get your hair done. If your have a car and you ride a thousand miles cruising through the neighborhood, you won't have enough gas to make it to where you need to go. Then when Sunday comes, you are so tired and drained; you don't want to go to church.

How can we make it on our own when your parents have to remind you of everything from cleaning your room to reading your bible? They have to remind you of everything except mealtime.

There is a lot to learn when you get on your own. Some of these lessons are "hard". But as you learn, something wonderful will happen in you. You will learn to stand on your own faith; walk with God on your own.

Start practicing making right decisions now. You don't have to wait until you get on your own. Even though you live with your parents, you are responsible for your own relationship with God. Everyday you need to choose whether or not to walk with God.

Choosing God is not something that you do naturally. It's a struggle, but it's worth it. God wants you to do your part in building your relationship with Him. Ask God to give you the desire and determination to live for Him. Making a choice to follow God is always the choice. Not sometimes; but always.