TODAY’S TEENAGERS: WHO IS TO BE BLAMED? (Part 3)

TODAY’S TEENAGERS: WHO IS TO BE BLAMED? (Part 3)

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 previous two posts, I talked about the responsibility and the availability of the older generation in rescuing the younger generations. I want to round up the series with the strategy to use in relating with teens.

Now the Strategy

After availing yourself both to God and to the teens, the next thing is to employ the right strategies. I stand to say that the greatest strategy is THE LOVE STRATEGY.

Love wins all battle. The Law and the Wrath of God reigned from Genesis to Malachi, yet God was not satisfied with the result. He became fully pleased with the result only when He changed from “LAW” to “LAW-IN-LOVE”. Grace came because Jesus came, Jesus came because God LOVED US SO MUCH (John 3:16).

Eph. 4:15 admonished us to speak the truth in love. Thank God we have the truth, thank God we are willing to speak it, but without love the truth will be lost. No heart is so hard that God’s love can’t break. Every teenager understands the language of love more than law.

SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE, not in frustration. The common slogan of one speaking the truth in frustration is seen in one Yoruba statement that says “eyinomoyi, moti mo wipe e nigbo”, that is, these children I already know that you will not listen and obey. Excuse me, when you know that they will not listen, why are you telling them?

Bruce Wilkinson in his Seven Laws of the Learner talks about the law of expectation, what you expect you get. Expectation is the mother of manifestations. Someone may be here thinking what of Jeremiah, whom God sent and God told him that the people won’t listen? Yes that was God, but for many of us it is not God, it is mere emotional experience. And remember that we learnt in Follow the Master four sources of authority: Intellect; Tradition; Emotional Experience; and Scripture.

We are to speak the truth in genuine love. Not speaking the truth in routine; mere duty; just fulfilling all righteousness; with unconcerned heart or as though you have never been there. In fact many pastors speak the truth in threat. John C. Maxwell wrote “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care” and the same goes for teenagers. Let them know you genuinely care for them and they will genuinely care to know what you have to teach.

As I come to a close, check out this quote from Socrates, a philosopher, mentor and teacher from the 5th century B. C. E., “Our youths now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers.” This was 500 years before Jesus Christ came.

Is this in any way different from our today’s comments on our teenagers and youths?

I wonder whether the nature of teenagers will ever change, WE ARE THE ONES TO CHANGE.

The rate at which we are losing our teens is alarming, and God is counting on us. No generation is too hard for God to handle, our generation shall certainly praise His Name. Amen!

Will you please rise and join me in the rescue mission for the remnants of today’s teens by singing;

Almighty God /2x

Our generation shall praise Your name /4x

Please take time to pray and may God bless you real good.