All of Human Life is There!

I try and keep myself abreast of the national and international news. I find that almost every day there are things happening in the world which provide powerful illustrations, backing up the truth of the Word of God. One British Sunday Newspaper used to advertise itself by saying ‘All of human life is there’. And that is a very accurate description of what you see in the daily media reports via the press, the internet and TV.

Over the past months I have been impacted by the tragedies that can happen to so many young people, as they grow through their teenage years, finding out the hard way that not all of human life is as attractive or as worthwhile as they first thought. In the lives of so many we are seeing the generational consequence of family disintegration, lack of parental discipline and dispensing with all moral guidelines of godly living. The concept of right and wrong seems to have virtually disappeared from education and training.

When one generation ceases to trust the God they were brought up to believe in, the next generation ceases to teach any form of morality to their children. The end result is that the third generation is like a rudderless ship trying to find its own way on the high seas of life, without any respect for authority or desire to learn from the experience of others. Instead of the previous generation having a godly and disciplined influence on today’s children and youth, this third generation is only willing to learn from themselves – they think they know best and will not listen to the advice or influence of others . Rebellion has become their modus operandi.

I wept this morning for a lost generation, as the face of an eleven year old girl, Britain’s youngest Mum, stared at me out of the newspaper. She had sex while drunk at a party, doing what all the others were doing. And I grieved with the parents of a teenage girl whose body had just been found in a field. Then I read a sober report telling of the damage teenagers could be doing to their brains when they get together and ‘binge-drink’. The legacy of rebellion is not pretty.

What we are seeing is a whole generation of youth being led, through peer pressure, to do what everyone else is doing, without restraint or thought of consequence. Many are being enticed to join in the supposed fun and live the rebellious dream. For many it will be too late when they find out the broken and evil reality that lies behind the enticements of the enemy. If only the advice of today’s Scripture had become their rule for life from an early age.

The enemy constantly entices people to follow him. He uses the pressure of others to lead us into things that we should have said no to. Let’s not just look at the things I’ve written about here, however, and shake our heads in disgust, but let’s take a long hard look at ourselves and see where we have succumbed to the enticements of others. Now is the time to come back to God and put our own house in order.

Prayer: I am sorry, Lord, for the times in my own life when I have been enticed into doing wrong things. Please forgive me for listening to the voice of the enemy and not listening to You. Help me, Lord, not to fall into this trap again – show me when I’m being enticed and give me the courage to say ‘No’. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.