What Youth Face Today.

For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned like a hearth. My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread. By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin Psalms 102: 3-5

Youth today need a lot of support, especially from the church community. Because of drugs, sexual disease and crime, our youth are being burned like paper in a fire. Their future is wasted by a lifestyle of pressure and wrong choices.

We place a lot of the blame on them, but most of them are continuing in the way we raised them. We say they have no concept of higher ideals in life, but we trashed them early in life by saying one thing and doing another. And we are shocked when they are uninterested in spiritual things. We dived into the selfish, flaky, hippie philosophy when it was hip, but now we criticize our children for having a short attention span.

The youth of today are survivors. The generation X’ers is still alive to face the war against them. One third of generation X never made it into the world. They were killed before they were born. I read a survey that said sixteen million babies were aborted by parents who didn’t want them.

There are many of that generation that beat the odds and are surviving. Though fatherless and family-less, they continue to fight. After millions witness the divorce of their parent and struggle for identity, they remain an active part of our world. They remind me of the Psalmist who survived a long period of disillusionment, but through faith endured to become a winner.

Many moms took solace in Prozac, fantasy soap operas or daytime talk shows detailing crazy lifestyles so that maybe she could feel that her life wasn’t so bad. Others find professional jobs and choose work over marriage and family.

Dads are no better. Those who remain marriage work so much that they are invisible at home. Others have a lover on the side or take out their frustration on their family.

As our youth witness all these things going on, they cannot help but feel like the world is against them. They survive watching countless hours of television and listening to loud vulgar music. They consistently get messages from somebody advising them to do the wrong thing. With so many things around to destroy them, it is a miracle they are still here.

In our society, we hear about everything but God and His laws. But His laws still stand today, and they still work. Following God’s Word may not make us popular, but it will make us winners.

Jesus loves our youth so much that He died for them. We must get this message to them, and encourage them to live for the One who paid the price for them.