TODAY’S TEENAGERS: WHO IS TO BE BLAMED? (Part 2)

TODAY’S TEENAGERS: WHO IS TO BE BLAMED? (Part 2)

Adesina Abegunde

²¹ I did not send these prophets yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. ²² But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil deeds… ²⁹ “Is not my word like fire”, declares the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaks the rock into pieces?” Jeremiah 23: 21, 22, 29 _(NIV)

Instead speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ. Ephesians 4: 15 _(NIV)

In the last post, I talked about the fact that the older generation have a greater share of the blame. Once the older generation can take responsibility, then they will be better equipped to salvage the younger generation by influencing them positively.

Influencing teenagers begins with knowing your God and knowing your teens. One good way to fail is to assume that you know when you have not taken time to learn. You need to know as someone said and I quote that, “Today’s teens live in a very different world than those before them. Yet some issues; like adults having negative perceptions of the adolescent haven’t changed much.”

Robert A. Cook wrote a book titled It’s Tough to Be a Teenager. I quite agree. It is indeed really tough. Only few adults care to know what it really means to be a 21st century teenager. Effective discharge of responsibility begins withaccurate and adequate knowledge and this knowledge begins by being available and by employing the right strategies.

Availability First of all to God

From Jer. 23: 21, 22, the problem was the unavailability of God’s prophet in God’s presence, where the revelations and the empowerments to change lives are found. In this passage, neither the bad people nor their good God was the problem. It was the bridge builders, the prophets of God who failed.

The teenagers are never the problem; neither is God’s Word too weak to be able to change them. We only need to be available for God’s dealings and leadings.

Next is being available to the teens

There is a very sharp contrast, even if not equal and opposite, between the teen’s world and adulthood.

Someone said and I quote, “The truth is that adults and youths are different, but that does not mean that adults are right and youths are wrong. It is just that different things make life meaningful to both of them.”

That you don’t understand somebody does not make you right and the person wrong. There is need to enter their world in order to know how to get them into the best shape of Christlikeness in their own world and not necessarily getting them into your own world. Be accessible, approachable and compassionate. Be a loving and an understanding adult. The effect of love is osmotic on people. People will always move from the region of lower love concentration to the region of higher love concentration, be it agape or eros teenagers don’t care.

In the next post, I will be talking about the strategy to influence teenagers, I hope you will be use tremendously by God in this generation.

May God keep you and preserve you in Jesus name.

May He cause His face to shine on you in Jesus name.

Receive grace to live for God this week in Jesus name.

God be with you.