Thursday, May 21, 2009

Losing The Next Generation

As a Christians, I believe its time we opened our eyes. While in some parts of the world the gospel is spreading, here in the USA the gospel is shrinking. The moral fabric of our nation has torn and is becoming a thing of the past.

The statement, one nation under God, now mocks God instead of standing true. Those of us that truly stand for and believe in this statement are becoming the minority not the majority.

What really brings a tear to my eye though is the hope of our children. At a larger rate then ever, our children raised in the church are leaving the church and not returning. We have failed to pass our faith to our children.

Not that we didn’t try. We raised them in church. They went to vacation bible school as children. They went on to youth group as young adults. But when they went on to college and into the world their belief didn’t seem to stick.

Statistics show that between 70 to 88 percent of Christian teens leave the church by the second year of college. 80 percent of youth that claim to be born again do not believe in absolute truth.

What has gone wrong for the youth that hold the future of our nation? Why have they not made God their own?

There is so much to combat for a child in the world today. If they are to make the faith of their parents their own, they must know God themselves in a very real way. They must be taught why they believe what they believe. Every person must find the foundation in the truth by questioning the faith and having God confirm it for them.

There are so many things that must happen for our children to find God for themselves. First we can’t protect them from everything, they must learn that suffering is ok and will build the character of God in them. They must learn that in hard times God will be their protectors, the one who is their safe hiding place.

Secondly, we have to take the legalism out of the church and teach our children to believe in God in His way. There are no set of rules, no task list to check off to get it all right. Too often we put the rules in place and as long as our children follow them, we assume they are ok spiritually.

We have taken the power out of God. If you are honest with yourself you will admit that often we want to execute our own plan more than we want to follow God’s plan. God’s way is often risky and unpopular.

When Noah was told to build the ark, no one believed there would be rain. I am sure everyone thought he was nuts, even ridiculed him, until the rain began. But the miraculous happened and rain came from the sky.

In my lifetime, when I have been used the most by God, it was when I put myself out there. When I have obeyed even when I thought the idea God had given me was nuts, those are the times that God has done powerful and amazing things.

If we are to change the destiny of our children, we must show them there is power behind what we believe. We must begin first with our own lives and act like we believe it ourselves.

8 comments:

Tamela's Place said...

Our children are now 20 and 22.. We brought them up in the Word of God and dedicated them to the Lord They were his before they were ours and they are still His and we know that He loves them even more than we as their natural parents do. I will admit the teen years were tough. Spiritual battles and bad influences came at them from every corner it seemed like.. But i stood upon God's promise, That if you train a child up in the way that He should go when he is old he will not depart. I would question the Lord about what old meant i mean would i see it in my lifetime a change life in my children or will they be 70 years old before things begin to change.. What is old? I am happy to say that with much prayer and trusting God's Word and of course by His Grace and mercy our children love the Lord today and are serving him with their lives. They will even remind me and my husband at times about what the Word of God has to say about a certain situation and to trust Him... I am soo thankful to God for this! he is faithful to His Word it does not come back to Him void! :)

Unknown said...

Sherri,

Thank you for this post. You hit the nail on the head. It is time for Christians to start living as the Bible teaches, and put the world behind them. It is time for men and women in Christ to stop drinking the milk and start eating the meat, putting on the full amour of God.

Our nation is in a crisis, and we need to spread the gospel right here in the US. Our country is now starting to see a famine for the Word of God, and a falling away from Him. We who call ourselves Christians have an obligation to teach others and become leaders.

As is says in John:

John 21:15-17 ESV When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs." (16) He said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Tend my sheep." (17) He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.

We need to teach if we truly do love the Lord our God.

Thank you again for this article.

God bless you.

Beth in NC said...

First, let me say I LOVE your new layout! I haven't visited in a while -- I am so behind on reading!

Second, I agree with what you said. I often think about what my daughter will have to face in this world.

I have often thought that the reason so many stray from their Christianity is because they don't see GOD'S POWER in many churches today. Kids often turn to witchcraft because they think that darkness holds something powerful. They have no idea how REAL God's power is for today. They don't fear Him (fear of God is the beginning of all wisdom) because they think He is off somewhere in the heavens ... disconnected from us here on earth.

Ok, I am writing my own post here (ha) -- sorry!

Thanks for sharing this with us.
Beth

Tyler said...

From reading the bible and experiencing God in my life and seeing him work in other peoples', I'm slowly beginning to realize that he is real. His ways are good but they're much higher, incomparably higher than ours. He is often so unpredictable, but I think Paul was right when he said, "in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." That's something we can hold onto. There are numerous other passages that convey God's great love for us, his primary desire for us to be made whole and live with him. It's the backbone of the bible, old testament and new. When we see that, we can begin to realize the purposes of his commands for us.

Tyler said...

*Just to clarify: we need his power to be at work, too. No transformation of our lives or lasting impact from sharing the gospel will happen without that. God's power is the fuel behind Kingdom expansion.

Brian Ray Todd said...

Amen! A Child of God walks with the Lord every second of every day and makes a difference in this culture for Christ's sake, for this world's sake, and for the sake of every individual that does not know the Lord ... it's eternal! Thank you for your message. Brian

Sherri Watt said...

Thanks everyone!!!

Joy said...

Sherri, this is a great post and great words of wisdom. I 've lived the legalistic side of church and determined I wouldn't do that to my children. I want them to have a genuine relationship with God.


Joy