When We Grow Up without the Lord

 I'm very concerned about the future generation of youngsters growing up in households with parents who don't serve the Lord. This bleak picture of reality casts a severe crisis on the moral stance of the country in the years to come. The USA is already filled with all kinds of sin and debauchery, and we are supposed to be a Christian nation.

The Bible has been trampled underfoot by our leaders and citizens with humanistic thinking being introduced as the right way to live. Parents won't teach their children because they are too busy chasing the almighty dollar, watching television, getting high on drugs and alcohol, or committing some other sin. I have seen many so-called parents driving on the street with little toddlers and other young children, playing immoral rap songs on the radio blasting the sound out so loud you can hear it while walking on the street. Smoking and swearing at home around their kids and never giving thanks before meals so that the child can know that there is a God to thank for our food. Yes, look inside some of the homes of America, and you can see why families are turning out such bad kids. The horror is seen more each day as faithful Christians are almost reduced to begging just to get someone to agree to a Bible study or attend church services.

Everyone claims to want a better world in which to live, but no one wants to walk in the ways of God so that it can become possible (Proverbs 14:34; 1 Peter 3:10-12). Bill Clinton and others can talk all they want about making this a better world by having health care available to everyone, doing away with unemployment, taking people off welfare, and getting guns off the streets.  All of that is fine but it is not the answer to our problems—unless the hearts of men are changed, the evil will continue. A killer can have a gun taken away from him by law, but if you don't change his heart he will murder with a knife, stick, rock, or anything he can get his hands on (Matthew 15:17-20).

The youngsters of today have no concept of who God is or what his will is because they don't know God. Drunkenness, partying, and sex are in, and their role models are immoral sports figures, actors, musicians, and false teachers like the Pope. The simple teachings of the Bible such as the Lord's Supper, attending church regularly, opposing sex before marriage, reading the Bible daily, etc. are unknown to them because they don't know God's law (2 John 8-9, Matt. 7:21-23;  1 Thessalonians 1:7-9).

I encourage young people to learn about the Lord while you are young, so you can avoid serious mistakes up the road of life (Ecclesiastes 12:1; Ephesians 6:4; Proverbs 22:6; Deuteronomy 6:6-12). Many wait until they are half way through or near death to get to know God. By then they are carrying all kinds of sinful baggage. Many may have divorced and remarried in violation of God's will. Some may have caught AIDS from lewd sexual living, and some may be serving time in jail for crimes committed, with their best years behind them.  Proverbs 7 tells the tragic story of a young foolish lad who didn't know the Lord, and he went into a strange woman's bed only thinking of the sexual pleasure he would enjoy. But trouble was waiting for him (1 Peter 5:8; 1 Corinthians 6:18, Galatians 6:7-8).

 People can be saved if they come to Christ late in their lives by remaining faithful to God, but still they would have been able to do so much more for the cause of Christ had they known him from their youth rather than giving their best years to Satan (Proverbs 10:1; 2 Timothy 3:15; 2 Tim. 2:22).

Another dark picture growing up without God brings is a gloomy future for us. Christians are upholding the world by spreading the gospel, and God is waiting for sinners to repent and obey that gospel (1 Peter 3:9). On the other hand, many of the young have no desire to know God, and they hate preaching and the church. They never understand that their existence is because of the righteousness of the humble children of God that they detest (2 Peter 2:6-8; Genesis 18:23-33).

This world needs young people who will take a stand for righteousness.  We need moral lawyers, doctors, blue collar workers, white collar executives, etc. We need people that will cause God to smile on this country and bless us (Deut. 7:12-15; Psa. 37:25-28). This will only happen if there is repentance today and tomorrow meaning our future generation.

Fellow Christians, this world is tumbling to hell at 10,000 m.p.h. Let us speak boldly for a return to God's ways and patiently teach all who will listen. We can do it—all we must do is put forth the effort and do the best you can as a Christian to make a difference in this sinful world.  Serve notice to Satan that his taking our young people to hell will not be as easy as he might think because he will have to get pass us first.
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Let's meet the challenge and teach the young about the Lord.

​~James Baker