Shalom Pemuda/I yang terkasih,

    I have been asked to just put some thoughts on paper for the Youth. It’s just amazing how time just flies by. We are already in the month of February and before we know it December has arrived and another year has gone by.

    Over the past few weeks I have been doing a lot of thinking about the word purpose. What is the purpose of my life? Why am I here on earth? What is God’s desire for me? Many of the questions arise because we life in an age where everything has a thin line. We don’t know the difference anymore sinful and righteousness. What was sin 30 years ago has become the norm today. For example if you were pregnant before marriage you were ashamed, now people are all open and don’t see the fuss. I truly believe we are watering down the Word of God so we can adopt it to our situation. We say God is forgiving so it’s one. There is no real understanding anymore about true repentance. What I mean it that is that our concept of thinking is as long as God forgive me (which he does ref 1 John 1:9) I am fine. But what about “the Fruit” True repentance is a total turn around. It means the very thing you used to do you don’t anymore.

    Today in the world it is very hard to be transparent, accountable, honest, etc. We trying to close up those deep wound rather than ask for help from others. Temptation is always knocking on our door. Especially if we have falling into sin before. Quite often we cannot handle the pressure and we fall in the same trap as before. Why?

Because of not willing to share and be accountable. What I am trying to say is why are we not willing to ask for help? Why are we trying to overcome everything by ourselves?  Because we have become so individualistic. We are too scare what others might think. The bible teaches us. “For ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” There are times we need to set up some sort of “buddy” system so that we can be accountable for what we are doing. So that the will not fall into that same trap.

    As I said before we have entered February and all young people think about is Valentine. Going to the shop you see it’s full with “valentine” gifts, etc. Not that I am against it, but let us consider this what are some of the things that happen. I want to touch on a few things.

Rejection

What quite often happens during this period is rejection. What if you are not so popular with the guys and happen to get no cards/gift? Often people are feeling rejected. Even though they might not express it on the outside, they are carrying this burden. They start questioning themselves. Why? They start thinking nobody loves me. And all kinds of thought enter the mind. Even in Christian circles Valentine Day has become a main event. And so some times we are not aware of the pressure we put on people with events like these. I would like to those that feel the pressure of being rejected once again, remember this. The GREATEST VALENTINE GIFT is that Jesus came to set us free of all pressures. If NO one else is your valentine remember this, Jesus wants to be your “valentine”. See Jesus will never leave you. He will be true to His word and be your valentine forever and ever. I sometimes wonder how many people have stuck it out being their valentine until they die. Think about this; is your “valentine” in 2004 the same as in 2000? If you didn’t have anyone before and this is your first Valentine ask yourself this question: Will he/she be your only valentine? You might say hang on why get so serious, it’s supposed to be fun. Well that is what we all think. But we forget the hurt and pain people carry even in so called “Christian” circles. The Bible says: ”Love one another”. Are we showing this love to one another? If your are married then you always have to have that one special person beside Christ and that is your own spouse.

Another thought I want to share is about lust. You see many people think that it’s oke to have sex with their so-called valentine on this day. Today abstinence is a word that is less and less talked about. The question today no longer is are you a virgin. The question is how often have you hat sex. I often compare this with buying a car. You see before you buy the car you want to “test drive” it. We have taking this same principle in relationship. Let’s try it out first and then we will see what happens. We want to see whether we are “compatible”. You might call me old fashioned, but I strongly belief in the Word of God, that abstinence is the only way to purity. I have seen too many young people fall in this area.  Why is it that? Because we have allowed it to happen. We don’t train the youth any longer to stick to the Word of God. I would say lust is one of the biggest problems in the world today. It’s getting hard to say NO! We have become a society of accepting everything. Even when it opposes the Word of God. You might say: ‘Well that sounds great, but how can I overcome this “challenge?” “How can I stay pure?” Lets have a look at what the Word of God says.

Psalm 119:9-11:

 9 How can a young person stay pure?

By obeying your word and following its rules.

10I have tried my best to find you—

don't let me wander from your commands.

11I have hidden your word in my heart,

that I might not sin against you.

You see the answer is very simple; Obeying and following the Word of God. For a long time now I have wondered how many young people are truly sticking to the Word of God? How many are truly having a devotional time with God? The reason we often sin is because we are not obeying nor following the Word of God. There are actually 4 steps in this.

We need to:

Hear the Word, Speak the Word, Meditate on the Word, and finally become Doers of the Word. And this is where our weakness lays. We might hear the Word of God every week and it might hit us that time, but what do we do with it? We might speak the Word, but do meditate on it. We might meditate, but do we practice it? Too many of us belong to the “No Action Talk Only” group. We talk too much so to say. The main thing in our life is Obedience. When Saul had sinned Samuel came to confront him. 1 Samuel 15:22-23 says:

22But Samuel replied, "What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Obedience is far better than sacrifice. Listening to him is much better than offering the fat of rams. 23Rebellion is as bad as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as bad as worshiping idols. So because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you from being king."

You might say pastor I am giving my tithe. I serve voluntarily, I do this and that, and that is great, but the most important thing in our lives is obedience. We might offer thing to please God, but God says: “More than anything I want your obedience.” So earlier we read how to keep our heart pure now the question is, are we willing to obey.

Both issues are very real in the world today. Even in the church. Take some time to really ponder and make a decision today to follow Christ whatever the cost.

If you have any questions or need some prayer, please feel free to email us. The address is: youth_auckland @hotmail.com. All emails will be treated confidential.

Remember Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.

God bless you and see you next time

Ps Marcel Kanon

Next month issue: Radical Youth