As summer comes to a close and young people prepare to either go back to school or away to college, it is a good time to re-emphasize the need for them to stay morally pure and to remember God in their youth (Ecclesiastes 12:1). Many seemingly strong, spiritually upright young people who suddenly find themselves away from constant parental oversight and surrounded by the pressures of morally bankrupt peers, struggle to resist the temptations that surround them. John 17:15-17 says, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” Here Jesus said that He prayed that His followers, even though they had to live in an evil world, might be kept from the whiles of the devil and be sanctified, or set apart, by God’s word.
Our young people need to understand that they cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). They must stand for the truth at all times and constantly be on guard, watching for the lion crouching at the door (Genesis 4:7; 1 Peter 5:8). Psalm 119:9 reads, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.” Paul added, “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 Timothy 4:12). Young people need to be an example of faith and godly living to an evil world. Older friends and family members also need to set the proper example before our youth, and be diligent to encourage and provoke them to love and good works (Titus 2:2-5; Hebrews 10:24). If all this can be accomplished, young people will secure their hearts from temptation.
Kyle Campbell