I spend a lot of time talking to teenagers and young adults on Facebook. It has become a “place” for a great counseling ministry to that age group. In my discussions with these wonderful young people I hear a lot of hurt and pain. Many of them come from broken and dysfunctional homes which have caused a tremendous amount of sadness in their lives. Others come from good home situations but have had an incredible number of bad things happen to them. Maybe they lost a friend in a car accident or a tragic house fire. Maybe they had a dear grandparent suffer horribly from cancer and then die. Maybe a good friend betrayed them. Far more of them have been violated sexually than what the “official” numbers report. It just seems that the pain and hurt keeps coming. It is a wonder that any of them function at all!
In my efforts to give them hope and point them to a God who cares, I find that many of them blame God for the pain in their lives. Some of them do it outright and boldly, expressing great anger at God for letting bad stuff happen to good people. Others of them are more subtle, but clearly they question why a God of love lets this stuff happen. God takes it on the chin for every painful moment and every painful action that has ever happened. Often I point out to them that it was a person who hurt them, not God. Often I remind them that if God controlled every aspect of our lives, we would simply be robots with no mind of our own. None of them seem to want that level of control in our lives.
I try to help them understand that God is not the only spiritual force at work in the world. Satan is roaming about the world with his legion of demons looking for whom he can destroy. It is Satan who has caused all this pain and hurt in the world. Satan is the one who kills people in car accidents and house fires. Satan is the one who causes a one person to violate another person sexually. Satan is the one who brings cancer, disease and pain into the world. Let’s put the blame where it belongs!
God is working very hard to bring about hope and change, but very few people seem to be on God’s side these days. Everyone wants God to “fix it” but no one wants to help God do any of the fixing. It seems that most people prefer to live like the Devil and then blame God for all the bad stuff that happens. But that is just not the way the real world works. There is hope and there is help from a God who is both powerful and loving. But we must reach out to Him and open our hearts and minds to His working in our lives. That does not mean that Satan will stop bothering us. Satan will continue to do his evil works because he is just pure evil and does not know how to do anything but cause pain and hurt in the world. But if enough people join God’s team and begin to follow God’s ways, we might be surprised how much joy, goodness, life, happiness and peace can come into the world.
So what will you do today? Will you continue to blame God while you do your own thing? Or will you get on God’s team and join Him in His work of fixing the mess Satan has made of this world?
I like this!
ReplyDeleteWe have three adopted children. Two sexually and physically abused and one neglected who has aspergers. In my years of working with youth and adults, I know the "official" numbers are woefully low.
ReplyDeleteYou are right about youth wanting to blame God... and I find adults doing the same. With an ever increasing ignorance of a Biblical worldview, God becomes more the "bad guy" and Satan the "good guy". Along with this, is the postmodern, "I can't be responsible for my actions, surely it must be someone elses fault...it must be God.
Your sentence "Everyone wants God to "fix it" but no one want to help God do any of the fixing." seems to be a "core value" of the day. A truth taught to me early in my Christian walk rings true today. "God chooses to use people to accomplish His will in the world." So God uses people to share the good news and the truth of a "peace that passes understanding" and grace and mercy that accesses resurrection power that can change the hardest heart and a wounded soul.
Families are in trouble. Help for the next generation will happen one child and one teen at a time.
Mr. or Ms. Adult, "adopt" a youth or young adult to mentor. Youth or young adult, don't make the same mistakes that many of your peers are making... seek out an "adopted" adult who will love and encourage you.
Only God through His Son, Jesus Christ, offers complete forgiveness and cleansing from sinful bagage.
Keep going Terry and may the Lord bless you and His church with a generation of saints who will break the chain of dysfunction and sin.
Terry,
ReplyDeleteDo not ever think that you are not being prayed for. Know that my church, located South Mississippi, consistently prays for you and your famly. May God Bless you and keep you!
"The rain falleth on the just and the unjust."
ReplyDeleteI like this.
ReplyDeleteVery powerful. I like this.
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ReplyDeleteI like this. Very truthful saying it this way. Saying it like this is not holding back on the truth. We all must try to get God into our lives.
ReplyDeleteI like this.
ReplyDeleteI really like this. Adults need this as much as teenagers.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this. It's good.
ReplyDeleteJust forwarded this on to our youth workers who are parents giving of themselves to work with our youth. Great thoughts. Some in our adult Sunday School group discussed this in class this morning.
ReplyDeleteBROTHER DORSETT, WE ARE ENJOYING READING WHAT THE LORD HAS GIVEN YOU. IN FACT WE HAVE ALREADY STARTED TO PRAY ABOUT IF GOD WANTS YOU TO WRITE A BOOK. IS THIS IN YOUR FUTURE? KEEP UP THE GOOD WRITING. GOD IS USING YOU IN MANY WAYS TO TOUCH HEARTS AND CHANGE LIFES. GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff.
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