Luke 9:62 But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.”
After preaching in a secondary school fellowship meeting, a young teenager spoke to me saying, "Sir, It seems it is hard following God as a teenager." I understood her perfectly. She spoke from the standpoint of teenage pressure she was experiencing.
I peeped into her mind with my inner eyes, I discovered she felt following God is easy for adults and not for teenagers. She felt adults have a special immunity against temptation.
Most young people feel this way because they think adulthood aligns people towards the genuine pursuit of God and righteousness automatically. I have found that to be totally untrue. An ungodly young man may grow to become an ungodly adult.
Every stage in life comes with its own temptations. While the young may struggle with sexual temptations and addictions, the old may have deep-seated struggle with financial impropriety. Why? They have bills to pay and the temptation to want to make money at all cost may set in.
Although in today's world of vanity, some youths can also do anything to make money. The young get tempted to make illegal money for show off but the old get tempted to make illegal money to pay bills. Same temptation or sin for different purposes.
There are sinful allures that comes with every developmental stage in life. In my discussion with her, I told her that maturity and growth( physical& spiritual) has not made me immune to temptations. In fact, the devil repackaged it for me.
She was surprised when I told her I also face the same challenge of reneging on my Christian commitments and consecration. However, the grace of God and my commitment to Christ has kept me.
Commitment to follow Jesus is not conferred on people by age. It is simply a decision one must make at any age one realizes its necessity. In fact, it is better to make that commitment as a young man or woman.
The bible says, "Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old and say, “Life is not pleasant anymore.” Remember him before the light of the sun, moon, and stars is dim to your old eyes, and rain clouds continually darken your sky"(Ecclesiastes 12:1-2 NLT).
As a youth, it is easier to build a strong spiritual life and culture in your youthful days than in the days when you grow grey hairs. If this is not true, the scripture above wouldn't have said so.
There's a time in life when life itself won't be pleasant anymore. Only your spiritual discipline, consecration and culture that you imbibed from your youthful age will appeal to you.
Don't postpone your commitment to God and His kingdom till a later time. There's never a convenient time for that in this ever-busy and fast changing world. The time is now.
Satan is after the young because he knows that's the stage of life where the foundation for the future is laid. Once the foundation is wrong at an early age, it will take grace for such people to fulfill God's plan and purpose for their lives.
When I was much younger, I was privileged to attend a meeting of Pastors and some Christian leaders. One of the old men in that meeting said his regret in life was that he wasn't born again when he was my age. I knew that statement was laden with deep-seated regret, pains and wounds that may never heal on time.
Build your prayer life now. Make it a culture to pray and study the word daily. Start now. Your spiritual growth and commitment should not be at the mercy of new year resolution. Don't postpone evangelism till you're old. Now that you have the strength, do it.
Do things that contribute to your spiritual growth on daily basis. It is much easier now than later.
Father, I receive the grace to build a strong spiritual culture of prayer, word study, evangelism and Christian consecration starting from now in Jesus name.