Young cats are definitely not known for their devotion to the Lord. I mean just think about the folks at your school, the folks you kick it with, or even the people at your church. Young believers, many times, just don’t seem to have much of a concern about their faith or their spiritual maturity. Why is this? I remember one time when I was at the barbershop in the chair. The lady who was cutting my hair (she was a believer) noticed the FOTU (Fellowship of the Unashamed) shirt I had on. It sparked a conversation about spiritual matters. Throughout the conversation she was able to see that I wasn’t your average believer, but that I was devoted and unashamed (glory to God). We eventually got on the subject of other young believers. She too had observed that most young folk just don?t think too much about the Lord. Her response to this was, “Well they kids, you can?t really expect much. Everyone ain’t like you.” As if I was some sort of phenomenon or some kind of exception to how it?s supposed to be.
This, unfortunately, is how most believers think of young folk: that we’re all young and immature in our faith, but we can?t really be blamed because we’re young and that’s how it?s supposed to be. That couldn’t be farther from the truth! And what’s crazy is that this is not a new issue. The Apostle Paul wrote Timothy two letters. In his first, he addressed this problem. 1 Timothy 4:12: Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity (NIV).
So now we can clearly see that, though it is the norm, it is not acceptable for young folks to be totally unconcerned with spiritual matters. And the truth is, we can’t really be upset when folks expect so much less from young believers. We can’t just expect the same amount of respect if we don?t demonstrate the same amount of spiritual maturity. We allow people to look down on us because the only example we tend to set is what NOT to do. I’m a young dude myself; only seventeen, and personally I get tired of being looked down upon. We’re known for doing wrong not right, rebellion not revival. It?s time that we rise up as young, respectable, and unashamed believers. How do we do that?
1. Set yourself apart from the world.
The world and sin are cousins. Unfortunately as believers, we often times forget that the world is our enemy. James 4:4 tells us that friendship with the world is hatred toward God, and that when we befriend the world we become an enemy of the living God. So how do we set ourselves apart from our enemy? Peter addressed this problem. 1 Peter 2:11- Dear friends I urge you as aliens and strangers in this world, to abstain from the sinful desires which war against your soul.
He was talking to Christians. He referred to us as aliens and strangers because that what we’re supposed to be! Think about it. If you see an alien walking down the street you would notice it. They would stand out. People should notice something different about us as believers. Just like aliens don?t belong here, neither do we. We’re representatives of Heaven and we should act like it. So what would make us stand out so much? Peter says it plainly, “abstain from the sinful desires which war against your soul.” In other words, keep from sinning! Not that the ultimate goal of your Christian life is only to ?not sin?, it goes much deeper than that. Jesus encouraged us to love the Lord with all our heart mind soul, and strength, so part of that is resisting temptation to disobey the Lord in our lives. We do our best to fight that sin that wars against our souls.
It battles against our souls because we are believers, a royal priesthood, new creatures. Everyone should just automatically know not to ask you to do this or that because they already know without asking that “Nah you don’t do that there.” Become a part of the 116 Clique. Let them know you’re not ashamed of the gospel. Tell others what helps you to stand out so much. Even when folks shun you and talk about you be proud to be part of the brotherhood of believers.
2. Get off milk and onto solid food.
If we don?t want to be looked down upon and we want to be seen as mature believers we have to actually become mature believers. Imagine that! Hebrews 5:13-14 tells us that anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. The milk it refers to is the elementary teachings of the gospel. For instance, if the only thing you know about your faith is that you’re going to Heaven when you die, chances are you’re still on milk. We must get beyond this. So how do we get acquainted with teaching about righteousness?
It says it clearly in the verse. We have to by constant use train ourselves. We must constantly be working hard to strive for righteousness. Trying to make the right decisions and learning from the mistakes we make. We have to constantly be in the word as well. There should never be a day in our lives when we do not mature spiritually. We can not possibly mature spiritually without reading the word. I know, I know easier said than done. But why do we find it difficult to read diligently? Because we don’t understand that it is a treasure. The bible tells us any and everything that we could ever need to know about life! It has all the wisdom, the guidance, the answers that you could ever need. The bible is the mind of God on paper. Who better to tell us how to live our lives than the one who created and is in complete control of everything?
Yeah, sometimes it can seem hard to understand and less than entertaining. But think about your friends. The first times ya’ll were around each other it may have been slightly awkward because ya’ll just didn’t know each other. But the more time ya’ll spent together and get to know each other, the more you wanted to be around each other. It’s the exact same way with the Lord. His word is his way of speaking to us. So the more time we spend with Him, better acquainted we will get with Him and the more we will enjoy fellowship with Him. If we don’t want to be seen as spiritual infants we must get off milk and onto solid food. Let us train ourselves so that they won’t look down on us and they will see us as mature believers.
3. Change Your Surroundings.
I can guarantee you that anyone who is mature in their walk with the Lord has completely different surroundings than they did before they were sold out. It’s what we need. We can’t expect to get more mature in our walk without making some changes. My man B. J. hit me with it like this. We got two dogs: our worldly dog and our spiritual dog. They are fighting. So who’s going to win? The one we feed more. The one we tend to and make stronger. So if we constantly feeding our worldly dog with our music choices, the videos, our friends, the places we go to, etc. that worldly dog is going to win EVERYTIME!
We may have to change some of the places we hang out and who we hang out with. How much respect can we get if we doing all the same old things all the other young folks do? These things are detrimental to our spiritual growth. We must surround ourselves with other believers who are striving for righteousness. The word tells us in Proverbs 13:20 that, ?He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.? Fools being those that submit to their flesh rather than the Lord. Whether you notice it or not your friends to influence you. Because of this you must be careful who you hang around.
You may even have to change the music you listen to or the TV shows you watch. Once again, the dog we feed more will win the fight. So why don’t we pop in a 116 CD every now and then or some Cross Movement, or watch some Christian television. Something that will aid us in our spiritual growth rather than hurting it. Our surroundings affect us tremendously.
I’m grateful to say that the Lord has allowed me to surrender my life to Him and I am now ?souled out?! Nothing I do during the day is done without thinking whether or not the Lord would approve. Don’t get me wrong; sometimes I ignore what the Lord wants me to do. I still fall like everyone else but the Lord has graciously allowed me to minimize those happenings. The Lord used a number of things to help me get on the road to becoming like him. All of the things I mentioned above are included.
One of the major ones is accountability. I roll with a clique of dudes who are striving for the same things I am. We check up on each other to make sure that we are living right. A few times a week we’ll either meet up or it can be as simple as a phone call. Just to ask each other how much we’ve been reading, or how we’ve been doing with our sin problems, etc. It’s a huge help to have other believers in your corner encouraging you and holding you to your new way of life.
Another one of the major ones is discipleship. A little while after I started really living this thing out I got acquainted with someone who was striving for the same things I was but was more mature in his faith. He offered to pour into me and teach me all the things he had learned. We started to talk on the phone a lot, meet up a lot and I was able to ask him whatever questions I had about anything. The Lord really used him to help me grow more and He still is. We should all try to find someone that we look up to in the faith to help guide us in the right direction. Actually we all NEED someone like this. Just make sure that any advice, counsel, etc. that they give you lines up directly with the word of God. And after we have become mature in the faith we can then do the same. Find someone and pour into them, teach them everything you’ve learned. Its important that we reproduce. I want to encourage all of you to press on in your endeavors to be young and unashamed. If He can do it with me, for sure He can with you. Grace and peace.
About the Author
Trip-Lee is a sophomore in bible college holding it down in a major way for Jesus Christ with his entire life. He is a hip hop artist featured on the 116 Clique Compilation CD, who loves the opportunity to teach and make disciples.
Comments
sayin i was really feeling it i'll keep you in
my prayers and pray for me that i will be
consistent in reading my word and
managing my time well since im out of
school.well aight let God keep workin
in yall life and in yall ministry. peace
hit ya up soon again. Keep it real
Thank you Trip lee for being so honest. Keep it up guys!
Your bro in Christ,
Tim
P.S.
This is my first time visiting this Webpage. But i've been stuck on it for about 2 hours. Ha ha. It's 3AM right now!
I'm keeping you in my prayers. Keep doing what you doing.
GOD BLESS
www.myspace.com/shyshy2009
Ur girl,
Kaitlyn
Your style of writing really connected with me (35 year old) and with my Kid's Kingdom Class (preteens). I was wondering if you've written any more articles. Or if you've written anything specifically geared towards preteens and teens. We read through this article together in our class and most of the kids wanted to take the article home with them. This is the first time they've been that interested in any lesson I've taught them. It was really a blessing because just the previous Sunday I could see clear and hear clearly that they were getting bored in class. Anyway if you have more things that you've written please send me a link.
Thanks,
Will
Blessings from Corpus Christi
Good devotional/blog man, Keep it up!!!
Keep on pressing forward with the Gospel, and may the Lord bless you abundantly this year,..PEACE!!!
I'm 18 and I've always believed that it was when I got older (you know settled down, married, had kids) that I would become more involved in the Church. After reading this I now atttend church twice on Sunday, the friday night student fellowship and the bible study on tuesday. Yet I feel like I'm just attending but not actually growing in my faith like you seem to be.
My question is, what can I do to grow in my faith? The thing is even though I go to these meetings, if my friends ask me why I'm not going clubbing, cinemas whatever- I don't say I'm in church- I just make up an excuse. I still cant totally say I'm unashamed cos I don't tell my friends about Christ, I still do things I shouldn't do and and go places I shouldn't go!
What can I do to grow?!! Please help!
When the time comes when your friends ask you to go to the club or whatever the situation may be repeat these scriptures in your mind and ask God to give you the courage to speak for Him. You never know how you can encourage your friends that might have had the same desires as you.
I encourage you my sister in Christ to surround yourself around people that are striving for the same things as you are-- growing in their relationships with Christ and becoming more and more like Him. Not kickin' your other friends to the side because God can use you to help them come to the knowledge of God. Know that His unfailing love is with you always -Psalm 23:6 NLT and He knows everything about you Psalm 139.
Thank You so much brother
Bless the Lord
*SpeakLife*
Wherever it takes me. I mean, I know that He's been through so much more than I. I can try and hold on too. He loves me regardless. Good for me, huh?
Music is a real effective way to reach youth, though. The music on AMPED is great. I want it all. Haha x]
Keep it up, keep it godly and keep it real,
JC
But, newayz keep it up man. Your music has really affected my life and stregthens me in my walk with Christ being young and unashamed at 15 for Christ.
Peace out man, 1 Timothy 4:12
Much Love(1 Cor. 13)
Sid
"You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. " 2 Timothy 2:1,2
There is a way for everything and there is a way to reach to the upcoming youth by teaching the scripture through music and events to build there faith in Christ like mentality. A point I want to bring up is some young dudes and females who into the word at times get quite and are ashamed to just spread the word(it happens to us sometimes, it's the devil trying to keep us away from God's faith). Keep spreading the scriptures of Christ to someone who needs know who needs God's help so I encourage you all and even me at a young age; don't be ashamed because God want you to deliver his message because the days are coming to a end.
Thank you very much
J-HARRIS
Thanks for the reminder
J.D.
This touched me so much because I see too many christian dudes, looking too much like the world. You do not see any diffrence. I cannot find anyone who is strong in faith. I never really have an "idol" from my church,. It is like the christian life is something they workout with at saturday amoung christians. I cannot be surrounded with other strong believers who are unshamed because there is noone. I don't wanna judge, but that it how it is. I am fighting lust really much right now, I don't just wanna let it pass by and look back when I have grown up and say "Well, I didn't know better." I am young and unshamed! I will not just let it happen in me. I fight Satan and rep Christ for life. Bless you dudes out there! Keep praying for each other.
God Bless and im praying for you guys!
In His Service,
Zach Schmidt
God bless you all.
:)
Jaz
Age 14
I really understand what you are telling, and all that young dudes... God will take care of them ;-) I thank God that I know the 116 Clique en I really love your music and lyrics!
Adriaan, 15, Holland
i mean i live in a place where everone thinks there a christian so no ones a christian u know. its like they dont read there bible and stuff cause there not have that fire. and they blame it on "everone around here is saved" its hard to expane but ya everone "saved" so no ones really saved and its so hard to be unashamed when that other christian are ashamed so its lomly standing alone when other christian listian to more secular muzik than christin muzik and ect... idk maby im just complaining ya i am sorry
dempsey age 13
Nebraska
Your fellow brother in Christ,
Hunter Munroe
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