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| What
Today's Youth Needs
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In the old
testament story of Cain, as he and
Abel are in the field together, being jealous of God’s
acceptance of Abel, he rises up against Abel and kills him.
Here are the three traits leading to the total renunciation of
all affection to God and man.
I greatly fear the youth of today are all too often like Cain,
self-willed, prideful, and jealous. This causes the question
to be asked, “what does today’s youth need?” The
question is by no means unanswerable, but it is a question for
which the answer depends greatly on each young person. The
answer requires the change from the above mentioned traits to
another three traits in man’s character.
God-willed. The young person must desire to see
God’s will over his own self-will, as was demonstrated by
Abel when he offered the firstlings of his flock and of the
fat thereof. Man must possess this attitude of doing as God
wills before he can begin to be acceptable in God’s sight.
The necessity of doing God’s will is further illustrated for
us in . Angry and suffering from thirst, the children of
Israel come to Moses asking why they were brought into the
wilderness to die. The Lord tells Moses to speak to the rock
and water will come forth, but Moses gathers the congregation
and strikes the rock with his rod. Because Moses elected to do
his will over the will of God, he was not allowed to enter the
land of inheritance. It is imperative that God’s will be
done or there will be no acceptance into the Heavenly home
that God has promised unto those that keep His commandments.
Humility. In Proverbs we are told that “before
honour is humility,” and Matthew records of man, “he that
shall humble himself shall be exalted.” Whereas Cain was
prideful, our young should strive to be humble and to put off
pride and vanity. It is a far better life to lower ourselves
before God and be exalted in the final hour than to be
prideful and haughty only to be made abased as we stand before
God. To be prideful is to be self-willed, but to be humble is
to seek God’s will and after all, it is for doing His will
that He will reward the faithful one day.
Love. Finally, we notice that the character of Cain
was to be jealous, where the young today need to display the
character of love. John tells us in the first epistle of John
that God is love and that if a man does not love, he knows not
God. It was because of this infinite love for man that God
allowed His son to suffer and die on the cross. Our youth
today needs to be constantly aware of this love that God and
Christ have exhibited and in turn strive to perfect their love
toward man and God.
By burying self-will, pride, and jealousy and replacing them
with the implanting of God’s will, humility, and love in the
heart, the youth of today will have what they most need. They
will have a firm foundation from which they can begin to serve
the kingdom of God and further the borders of His kingdom, one
day to receive their inheritance in heaven.
Lawrence Kelley
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Copyright (C)
2008
Southside Church of Christ
All rights reserved.
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