Anybody that knows me knows a passion of mine is young people. I call them “young adults” instead of “youth.” I don’t really like the term “youth” because it connotes a different meaning than “young adults.” It’s a personal preference I guess. The word “youth” in my mind has come to mean a season of life that embodies that idea of teenagers hanging out together and the peer-driven silliness that often can go with that “scene.” The words “young adults” embody the idea of expectations of teenagers to act like,well…”adults.” The Scriptures teach this.
Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. 1 Timothy 4:12
The young people are to set an example for the other believers in how they talk, live, love, show faith and in sexual and moral purity. Yes…young adults are to “set an example.”
Let me give you an example. I worked for many years at a company called The Hardwood Company. It was a great experience and I met many, many wonderful people. Among those was Aaron Miller. Aaron, like me, has moved to a different venue and is working for a different company, but I was recently re-acquainted with Aaron and his wife Heidi and son, Luke. Luke has recently written about his experience of becoming a believer and his subsequent baptism. He wrote a paper for his seventh grade class. We wrote about baptism. Take a look:
Have you ever been baptized? Have you ever thought about being baptized? Well, you should consider it. Getting baptized isn’t just dunking your head under water and saying you’re a Christian. If you say that you’ve got the wrong idea of Christianity. It’s more than that. It’s saying that you’ve accepted God into your heart and are willing to obey Him and worship Him in every thing you do. When you go under the water, in symbolizes that your old self is washed away and when you come up the new you is born. When you pray, you want to ask him to make your life better. You also need to pray for other people, tell God what is going on in your life, and most importantly, you need to tell Him and thank Him for the good things that have happened to you. Do you think God wants to hear our complaining all the time? No. He likes to hear the good things too. He likes to feel your happiness.
You are not saved when you are baptized; you have to ask the Lord into your heart before you are dunked in the water. This is called being saved. When you ask the Lord into your heart that is the moment when He gives you eternal salvation. Being baptized just tells other people that you are a child of God. I was sitting on my mom’s bed when I asked the Lord into my heart. It makes you feel relieved, like a tremendous weight is lifted off of your shoulders. You feel happy.
When you are saved, you have to live the life of a Christian. You can’t just go on being your normal self; you have to live for God. You have to talk about Him. You have to be a better person. You need to be aware of the sins and remove them from your life. The good and the bad self will fight against each other all the time. You will be tempted to do wrong a lot. You just have to ask God to help you fight those battles and make you stronger. If you get baptized, be proud. Don’t hide it. Tell your friends all about your experience. Don’t be ashamed of God. Some of your friends will disagree with you and you might lose some friends because of their non-belief. Just know that you are a friend of God, always.
Isn’t that wonderful! This is coming from a seventh-grader! Now tell me what a young adult can’t do! Wonderful job Luke! We are so proud of you! By the way, I asked Aaron if I could share what Luke had said and this was his response:
Kevin,
Luke would be proud for you to share this paper with others. He got baptized last weekend and has been on fire for some time now. I used to think that kids of his age were too young to understand. I take it back. I’ve had discussions with him about Christ as a child, and the age of knowledge, responsibility and accountability. I explained that when Christ was 12, he spoke plainly in the Synagogue and that now Luke was responsible for his own actions. You never know if a young man is listening or not. I was very surprised when he announced that he wanted to be saved. I was even more surprised when he announced that he wanted to be baptized. Despite my own reservations, I could not and would not ever try to put his fire and lust for knowledge out, because he seems to be filled with God’s Spirit. He has chosen the narrow path that most do not even seem to notice. Please share this with others.
I believe we must simply “raise the bar.”
Our young adults will rise or fall to our high or low expectations. It’s a choice we must make as “adults.” What do we want our young adults to aspire to in this life? Well, I’m starting to get too much “into” the book I’m writing, so I’ll stop here for now.
On another note, speaking of young adults, we had an 18-year-old lead our Wednesday evening service last night at church. His name is Justin Gourley. He taught from Hebrews chapter 2, verses 1-4. Daunting passage! Yet, he handled it wonderfully! He had prepared, studied, prayed and poured much time into “studying to show himself approved” and was an excellent teacher. Thanks so much Justin!
Why would I turn the pulpit over to an 18-year-old? Because I’m raising the bar. I believe in Justin and his desire to pursue and live for the Lord. We have been talking, training and mentoring for weeks for last night’s delivery of this passage. Justin doesn’t have a father that is actively engaged in his life from a spiritual standpoint, so I along with other men in the church have come along-side our younger brother and we are mentoring him. Titus 2 teaches this:
1 You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. 2 Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance…6 Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. 7 In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8 and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us. Titus 2: 1-2, 6-8
This process of mentorship has been lost in many of our churches. We stick the young adults in rooms by themselves and we entertain them and seldom expect anything spiritually from them other than “showing up.” Let’s employ them! Let’s use their gifts and talents and mentor these wonderful young people! They’ve got the ability to do great things! They can do Algebra and Chemistry and diagram sentences. Shouldn’t we expect them and want them to be able to take a passage of Scripture and learn it and share it? Yes, we should! Oh it’s exciting to see that bar going up a little higher and then a little higher and…wow! We will be amazed to see what our young adults can do in the Lord if we will encourage them.
I’m grateful as a 16-year-old, my pastor, Jimmy Hubbard asked me to teach a Wednesday night service. It lasted 12 minutes! Ha! I tell our people, jokingly…don’t you wish for those days again!! 🙂 Seriously, Preacher Jimmy mentored me and gave me a chance and I owe much to this man who was simple, the son of a West Virginia coal miner, yet he saw something in me that said, “give him a chance…raise the bar.” Jimmy is with the Lord now and I’m looking forward to seeing him again and thanking him again for seeing something in me that made him take an interest in me and encourage me.
Who is it in your life that you can do the same? If you are a parent, the first place you should look is your own children or grandchildren. Secondly, you should then look for those in the church that needs an extra bit of encouragement or a nudge in the faith. Maybe it’s an email or a text to them. Maybe it’s inviting them over for lunch after service on Sunday. You let the Holy Spirit guide you, but I encourage you to invest into the lives of our young adults and “mentor” them by making “disciples” of them…one inch at a time. I see that bar rising!!
