A CHALLENGE TO THE 21ST CENTURY TEENAGER AND YOUTH. By Elvis Elvis Article One. Consider this ... Many people tend to think of today's youth as the leaders of tomorrow. But Scripture never places us in such a category. It never instructs us to wait until we are more mature or knowledgeable or skilled before we begin to take God's Word seriously and consider what plans and purposes the Lord has for our lives. According to God's Word, we are to be leaders even today who earnestly desire to honor and serve our Lord in all our thoughts and actions. Paul told Timothy, a younger man in the faith, ;"Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity" (1 Tim. 4:12). God specifically commands us, as young people, to be leaders—to lead by example. We are to understand God's instructions to us and let the world watch us grow in our spiritual walk with the Lord. As a young person myself, I am burdened for the church in the days ahead, and I am burdened for today's youth who must not only strive to live exemplary lives right now (that is, a life that is an example for others to follow), but who will one day attempt to serve as faithful leaders within the body of Christ, the church. I am burdened because it is not getting any easier to live in this world. I am burdened because young Christians today often fail to understand that God desires to have a close, intimate relationship with them right now, a relationship that only comes about when we obey the Scriptures. Sadly, many young people often feel as though God will only use them or speak to them through His Word when they grow older. Yet this is certainly not true! I know that many adults do not always provide the right examples for us to follow. Some are downright hypocritical. Others do not even seem to care what God's Word has to say at all. Others may truly desire to follow Christ but find themselves more interested in what some individual has to say or what some program has to offer rather than what God's Word teaches. Today, as many older believers tend to disregard the teaching of God's Word in order to be accepted by others, we who are younger are witnessing this tragic compromise, this disregard for Biblical truth. To be contd. #teensandyouthsplatphom@gmail.com#