In the news lately, there’s been chatter about Canadian Chris Kroeger of his band Nickleback taking shots at Justin Beiber.[TMZ- Chris Kroeger On Justin Bieber] I caught wind of this as I watched TMZ Live last night as the TMZ team discussed their thoughts on it, and in the midst of them talking, I heard something expressed that tends to annoy me when people talk about the youth. One of the guys basically went on about how because Beiber is young, he’s going to do dumb things, because you know…he’s ‘young’. This statement was made to basically look the other way at Beiber’s actions lately just because this is what young people do. This kind of thinking annoys me for a few reasons. In society, we tend to have such a low view of the youth. We can either see them as annoying and loud, or reckless and dumb. This isn’t to say that as youth we don’t go through stages of immaturity or that we act like we know more than we do (Proverbs 22:15), but I think that even with that, the low expectations we have of the youth is very hindering to them and us. How you see people in your thinking will determine how you approach and interact with them. Society in general doesn’t give the youth the credit they deserve.

I’ve met some of the most intelligent, passionate, driven, and conscious people in my life that are young. You have a generation of men and women who are at the helm defining what’s important to them and the world that they live in. The sad part is that the enemy of their souls, Satan, sees this quicker than we do and as a result has things pushed in our generation that just boggles the mind sometimes (WorldStar anyone?). Since your view of people determines your approach there tends to be a lack of responsibility taken from society at large whenever we do have youth that bug out, and along with not taking responsibility, you see the disdain towards them as well. Things like, “These kids need to grow up!” and then nostalgia kicks in with them going back to when they were young(“Well, when I was young” lol!), which they can look at with rose colored glasses. What the older generation has to understand is that nothing happens in a vacuum, and many things we see now are seeds of what’s been planted from previous generations.

In living my life as a Christian, I’ve learned that God not only sees things in the hear and now, but He thinks generationally as well. I say this because, when you look in the Scriptures, you see verses that speaks to raising up children in a way that’ll bring positive and life-changing results to their lives and generation(Proverbs 22:6, Psalms 119:9, Deuteronomy 6:7, Titus 2:3-8). God is concerned with the lives of young people, and its a disservice to dismiss their wrong actions as things that young people just “do”. Society may dictate that when you’re young you shouldn’t strive to be mature and wise in your decisions, but Jesus thinks more higher of us than this, and we have a moral responsibility to encourage young people to be the best they were created to be. One of the verses listed deals with the youth making a choice themselves, so to you I speak directly here. Check out what Psalms 119:9 says:

How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.

To the youth. I appreciate your energy, zeal, passion, intellect, shrewdness, and many more things. I’m still young, so I’m grateful to be apart of such an amazing generation. But we gotta be real..there’s alot of things that we tolerate that seek to destroy us. No matter how young you are, or where you find yourself today, Jesus loves you and wants you to live life from His point of view. You may be in a place of discovery, in the midst of people and pressure that moves you to make choices that you now regret. You may even be in a place where you could care less about things and doing what you want…WHEREVER you are, my passion and prayer is to see God take a hold of your life and lead you according to the Bible which is His word. You’re at a beautiful place in life where you can have fun yet not regret it because you can honor Him when you do. Never let ANYONE despise you for being young(1 Timothy 4:12) and think that you’re too little to make wise choices. I became a Christian when I was five years old..its possible to be in love with a God who loves you dearly at a young age and follow Him. Don’t let anybody tell you what you can’t do, or what to expect from you! Rise higher, think thoughts of redemption by knowing the One who redeemed your soul, and live in His victory. In Jesus Christ, there is NOTHING that will be able to stop you.