4 Tips To Make Wiser Teenagers
Is an unexamined life even worth the breath it draws?
Socrates thinks not... "The unexamined life is not worth living."
We all need the tuning of our lives, the searching of our hearts and the peering into our minds. The younger this is learned, the stronger and longer the life to be enjoyed under God's sun.
As teenagers boldly, indeed incorrigibly embark on the universal trip of life there are many scriptural compass points to guide. Each point will serve as a tool to examine their life, before destructive self-indulgence leads to carnage of the body and loss of the soul.
Listed below are but four Biblical tips:
- Do not place any vile thing before your eyes. (Psalm 101:3) The eye is the window to the soul. What is allowed in will influence what remains in, and therefore what comes out. Only permit good in. (Pornography is the furious enemy of each person - it enters via the eyes.)
- Remember the Lord before the days of trouble come. (Ecclesiastes 12:1) Build the relationship with God in the times of youth and ease. Knowing God will then be the habit as ease turns to distress and age gains a longer shadow. This is preparation to manage the impending hardships of life well, with divine wisdom; life is a battleground not a playground.
- Understand that youth and vigor are meaningless. These are the hollow seductions to self-sufficiency, the nurturing of pride and the multiplication of indulgence. (Ecclesiates 11:10) Youthfulness, beauty and strength are fought to be kept, often at the exclusion of the truly valuable. (See 1 Timothy 4:8) Many older heads are not wise either to this, for even the aged can seek the perpetuity of youth.
- Do not go down to street corners. A youth lacking in judgement once strolled to a corner as the day darkened. A loose wife dressed to allure, brazenly and persuasively led him astray while her husband was absent. Choose against being vulnerable to sin. Avoid places where sin is hard to resist and easy to do. Flee the evil desires of youth. (See Proverbs 7 for this full story.)
Encourage the young men to be self-controlled. (Titus 2:6)
Is not the most difficult lesson to teach a teenager, self-control?
Begin while they are young and head satan's deadly lies of indulgence 'off at the pass'.
Today's Soul Snippet:
"Religion masks as relationship and blesses sinfulness." ~ Michael Cartwright
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