It seems like ever since I turned my life over to Christ, there has been a constant struggle. Whether I was fighting with friends or my family, or just struggling with schoolwork and sports, I knew I would be able to get through the week because I had youth on Fridays. When it first started, it was so innocent. There was no drama and everyone loved each other genuinely.
After about half a year of the "honeymoon" stage in our growing group, the Enemy began to attack in many ways. He would tear apart friendships, bring bad influences into the place, or tempt people with lust and selfishness. This was the first time I really started to question whether or not to come to youth group.
There is a saying that says "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." I still don't have any explanation for why I kept attending through the ridicule and drama of others, but God kept calling me to go. Satan would have wanted me to give up and forget the path I had chosen to travel my life on. Fortunately, God fought back so much harder and refused to let go of me and so many others who were doubting their faith and the works He was doing through them.
Even when we got to high school, all of the kids my age believed these years would be better. We had our ups and downs but God always healed us in the end. One major thing that has gotten me in highschool is two faced people. They act one way on day 1 and on day 3 they are a completely different person. To top that off, they act as if nothing they have done or said is wrong. I had a major struggle with handling these people over the summer, and still continue to pray about this issue. The second profile I strongly dislike is those people who are always like "Oh, I love you!" but don't really mean it.
In my mind, actions speak MUCH louder than words, and they always have. If you tell someone you are sorry, I believe God calls you to genuinely mean it. Same goes for if you tell someone you forgive them or that you love them. If you don't have the actions to back it up, then the love isn't truly there. I know I'm only 15 but God has shown me so much love in these past years that I know it is not something to be taken for granted. I think that is the problem with today's youth. We talk the talk, but very rarely do we actually walk the walk.
I think that fake friends and the misconception of love among teens is what has caused so much drama and division among us. We say that we accept and love each other, but do we really mean it? In Jeremiah 1:5 it says " “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.”
God knew us BEFORE our parents did, and before our friends even did. THAT is true love. This whole "love sign" and paragraph long messages to people we barely know, let alone care about is not love. We will never truly understand the full love of God, and that's just the way it is.
However, you can try to get close to him and love the way He did by just looking in the Bible. See how he handled situations in everyday life while on this earth. I know that things in my youth are topsy turvy right now, with drama and hurt and confusion. But I also know that God has the ultimate plan for everything, and everytime something bad happens it is not meant to disappoint us. It is to assure us that greater things have yet to come. So even if kids aren't getting along and there are different sides in an arguement, whether we accept it or not we are ALL in this together. No matter what our differences or hostilities we stand together as a nation for Christ, one that needs to grow and search for His love again instead of trying to find it in the opposite sex, popularity, and glory.
1 Corinthians 1:10 "I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought."
I pray that this really touched someone today, and have a blessed night :)
