Keeping the good faith in a perverse and crooked world is onemajor challenge, the youth are faced with. The same issues are at play from generation to generation. It is a fact that with each generation there are certain peculiarities to the challenges they face, yet they bear certain similarities. Just like the bible said in Matthew 11:12 (NIV); “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence and violent people have been raiding it”.
Youths of this generation, among whom I find myself, have found themselves in a knotty situation because the society we live in, has continually endorsed abnormality to be normal and tagged things that are normal to be abnormal.
Most youths currentlyengage in acts that are vile, foolish, and totally irrational. Drug abuse has becomethe order of the day. For example, all around us, you would see young and old men all hurdled up in a store, shop or even an uncompleted building smoking Indian Hemp (locally known as ‘igbo’), with the vast majority of this crowd being youths.
Similarly, they struggle with finding their place in this world so they try to understand themselves and fathom their purpose in life through physical and worldly means,forgetting that they did not create themselves, God created them. Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV) says that; “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” which means that since we are not the ones who created ourselves, we cannot of our own accord decide what our purpose is, except we ask God who alone can tell us what our purpose on earthis.
Another factor is depression which is now quite alarming because of the number of peoplewho have yielded to this satanic weapon. Mental health disorders (particularly depression and substance abuseare associated with more than 90% of all cases of suicide.
This worrisome stream of events are not alien to Christianity and this is because there is lack of proper guidance for even Christian youths, they have nobody to share their problems with and automatically after being weighed down by their problems for a period of time and they get to their breaking point and decide that the only way out is to take their own life. This solution of taking their own lives does them no good as it robs them of the opportunity to experience the best of life,or fulfil their purpose in life and ultimately being a blessing to others.
This ailment of the mind called depression would be done with, if churches are more sensitive and ensure that no one going through whatever problem they find themselves in suffer in silence and that they are given adequate help in every possible way.
The zeal to do the good, acceptable and perfect will of God at all times does not burn within the hearts of our youths anymore, they are laid back, relaxed and totally carefree when it comes to the things of God. They prefer to tweet, post pictures on Facebook, go partying and indulge in pleasure seeking activities than praying, studying the bible or even spreading the gospel. In effect they have become an easy prey for the enemy who robs them of their faith, spiritual blessings and prevents them from excelling in their various ministries.
In the church the youths claim to find it hard to fit in. This is because while they attempt to incorporate modern ideas into the church system, theolder Christians who have been used to the way things are, want to maintain the status quo. The youths therefore feel left behind and generally seek other ways to express themselves and showcase their innovations to the world.
This is the singular reason why we have lost so many youths to the world especially in the sphere of entertainment as the world is willing to allow them have their way even to their own detriment which if the church had accommodated their ideas, there would have been the proper guidance and monitoring to keep them in check and thereby prevent them from taking rash and detrimental decisions.
Amidst these ills and unfortunate circumstances, all hope is not lost yet because as there are a lot of backsliding and unbelieving youths, there still exist those who are firebrands for the Lord and are willing to do his good, perfect and acceptable will, who without question, doubt or hesitation surrender themselves to be used by God and like the prophet Isaiah, they also declare“Here I am, send me”.
It is my prayer that these blazing torches would spread the fire so that even those who have backslidden and the unbelieving among the youths shall catch this fire and shine brighter and brighter until the perfect day.
