I know it's been a long known fact that teenagers can be moody and unpredictable because they go through so many changes through those years. It is hard to be a teenager and with the world as it is now, there are just massive amounts of things that can get in their way and barricade their view to an understanding of finding God's path which would provide them with finding their way to a peaceful existence. And yet I think of what most teenagers would feel and say about the world: "It's a mess." "It doesn't make sense." They are highly dissatisfied with the way things are, and rightly so. What I would point out to them is that their understanding of that fact fits well with what Jesus said. Come away from the world. Don't be "of it." When we walk in the light of God's truth we can actually live in the world and yet be separate from it. God provides us with the way to do that.
The world and Satan (it would be a mistake to leave him out of the equation) would have us believe there is some better way than God's way. Or that you can literally come half way and be okay with that, and that God will be okay with that, accepting some part of Christianity, and yet going the way of the world. Satan at this time has the freedom to do as he wishes to a point. The thing he excels at is passing off lies as truth. He's had success in that both in the world and in religion. Do we really think that it was Adolph Hitler who came up with "the final solution" for extermination of the Jewish people? The fact is it was Satan who put that twisted thinking into the mind of a person who had unfortunately allowed himself to be controlled by it. Look at the situation: Satan has gone after the Jewish people like no other. He wants them gone. He wants them out. Why? Because he knows that salvation comes to us through Jesus who was himself Jewish. The point is that Satan is very good at this. He caused terrible human suffering for people in this country by twisting the thinking of generations of people believing themselves often to be good Christians doing the work of the Klu Klux Klan. Does this remove the responsibility of those that committed atrocities? No, not at all, but they did allow themselves to be controlled by Satan, whether they ever understood that or not.
The thing is, for young people these days, so often they don't have a family that teaches them that God has a path for them to walk. They perhaps don't understand the salvation message. They may not understand that God's intention was that everyone would have the opportunity to accept this gift of salvation, Christ having paid the price for us. They may not at all grasp their need for God's help. They may not understand that Satan has the ability to bring something before them which looks good on the surface, but the underlying contains the deception. I think of what Jesus said to Peter, "Satan would like to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you." I know that Satan desires to destroy any life he can. And there is no limit with him to how bad it can get. I think that's quite obvious.
God wants us to have a place with Him. We can come to Him from wherever we are and ask Him and He will hear us. Isn't it amazing to think that God, the Creator, The Great I Am, that He thinks about our lives? He knows us. He understands what people go through. The Bible tells us He has great compassion. And when you turn to Him with all your heart, you can feel that compassion. It pours out on you. In fact God pours into us His love. He does that for our sake, but also in order that we can give love to others. Yes, the world will try and pull us down, Satan will attack, he's not going to give up trying, but we just need to remember that Jesus said "Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world."
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