Parents

Another one of my thoughtful posts!

Ok, so...how's your life? Good? That's good...wait, you said not not that good? Interesting...how are your parents? Don't know, don't care? Whaaa..
I've noticed a very interesting pattern in the teenage life. One occuring all over America is a little somethin' known as "rebellion". Teenagers here somehow seem to come up with the idiotic idea that they know everything or that getting out of the house as soon as possible will make life wonderful. Why? It appears to me, and is quite evident, that teenagers seem to have problems with the people God placed in their life to be in authority...their parents.

I mean think about it, a BUNCH of teenagers I know wanna move out of their house ASAP, in fact, you're probably one of them. :P Why do you want to do this? This especially happens here in America because out in the spanish countries, you see kids growing up into their 20s+ with their parents.
Now look at their life. I don't know if you've ever seen a crazy spanish mom but they can be quite the scary ladies! I remember a teaching I heard by a Spanish pastor by the surname of Cash. This guy was telling a story about his mom and him's antics. It was very funny, and his mom was quite strict with him and stuff, throwing sandals at him and all. But the guy had a lot of respect for his mom, even in a bunch of her unfairness. In fact, he bought her a rollex watch (working in a spanish country, that's like...a LOT of MONTHS worth of pay) and God blessed him with that. Now I know there are some parents out there who are just plain nuts. And you're probably nodding your head and going "yup, that's me!" but no. You're probably just deceiving yourself into thinking that. Time for a Bible verse.

"Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. " -Ephesians 6:1-3

Notice the parts I put in bold. "Obey your parents" it says. It doesn't say "obey your parents when you know their right" or "obey your parents when you feel like it". It's plain and simple. OBEY THEM! Why?

"This is right."
Easy answer. Did you know obeying your parents is the FIRST commandment with a promise? Yea, what promise is that?

"That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. "
Very interesting. Your life, will actually be longer. Now you know why you should. Why don't you?

Well, speaking as a Christian teenager I can tell you with pure honesty that sometimes, I don't like what my parents ask of me. "Take out the garbage everyday" or just about any request dealing with the backyard will get me in bad mood. Now, what do I with this bad mood. Well, I'll tell ya what you should do. Eat it! Just DO whatever your parents ask will ya? Do you know how much trouble you'll save? If you contradict them in some glorious effort to try and revolutionize the teenage right of whatever you're just gonna screw yourself over. I mean seriously, you know that they're right, I know I'm suppose to take the garbage out, and sometimes you don't. We're still human, we will disobey at times. But do not make it some sort of freaking lifestyle where whatever your parents ask of you is shotdown before they can even get the words out of there mouth.

What's my experience like? I can tell you right now, my life is cool. No really, it is. I actually have a good relationship with my parents. I can talk to either one of em on just about everything, I never have any major issues with them, I never get grounded. Why? Well...I do my best to obey them. OMG WOW...like it's so hard. I'm not a perfect child, but I have respect for my parents. I will never yell at them, call the names (in front of or behind their backs), and will do my best to obey them. Another verse:

"Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord."
-Colossians 3:20

Looks very similar to the verse above right? Except a little different.
"...obey your parents in all things..." is a key phrase here. Now, don't go taking this out of context and say that if you're parents told you to kill someone that you have to obey them. Remember, God's laws are first, THEN your parents. The other key phrase is "...this is well pleasing unto the Lord." Hear that? If you don't want to obey your parents for your parents' sake, obey them, because you MAKE GOD HAPPY. What's better than to please your wonderful Creator? Also, realize this:

"Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." -Romans 1:29-32

When I read that I was like wow...I mean look, someone who is wicked, has commited fornication, whose proud (one of the abominations, is ACTUALLY compared to someone who DISBOEYS THEIR PARENTS. It's not just some little sin guys, it's a seriously wrong thing to do, and you deserve DEATH if you do. Pretty rough huh?

"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy," -2 Timothy 3:1-2

Guys, you know we're in the last days. You want to be the teenagers who deserve death? Be an example for God will ya? Obey your parents, be nice to them, do whatever it takes, just do it for God. I hope ya'll learned something, or that this will convict you in someway and that you fix whatever may be wrong with your relationships with mama and papa. I gurantee your life will be easier if you just respect them.

Relationships

Ok, I said I was going to write and here it is!

What is apparently on every teenagers mind these days? How 'bout someone of the opposite gender. I see a bunch of people, including many of my friends from youth group, getting into relationships with people and wonder to my self "What the crap?". When they showed those videos on relationships and taught a whole bunch of stuff on abstinence at youth group I was thinking the same thing as everyone, "UUGGHHHH! BORING!". But it seems, that they actually did/still need to hear this. Why? There are still people getting into messes, with the starting point being the acquirement of a boy/girlfriend.

Now let's get this straight. I love girls, they are awesome, God made em, and it's natural for a guy to like em, and vice-versa. I am not against "liking" someone, or even relationships! But there's a difference between my point of view, and everyone else's it seems.

I don't think anyone under the age of 18 should have a "b/gfriend". "ZOMG" you say, why? It's probably that age you only start to actually think about who you're going to marry. Now, having a friend that you like is fine. Even if they like you back! But getting into an actual "relationship" is an incredibly dumb thing for anyone under that age to do (and even some at that age aren't ready. The thing with the age is MAINLY about maturity, which most teenagers don't have much of). I mean seriously people, I've seen it so many times and yet people continue doing it. A girl meets a guy, one or the other thinks that they OR the other "love" each other and this will last forever and then some months later it's over. It's over and one or the other (whichever has done it more gets less affected) gets their heart broken. And then what? They start the cycle AGAIN. It makes me so furious to see these people take such dumb decisions...and I'm sorry but it's true. Here's what I'm thinking.

When I like a girl, first off she will be a CHRISTIAN. All these people in youth group, who've had relationships, first off are either NOT Christians (I plan on making a teaching on this soon) or are going out with a non-christian. Anyway, I will obviously be the girl's friend, none of this love-at-first-sight crap cuz I saw someone at the mall with a Nintendo Controller belt and I know "she's the one". We will be friends, and me liking her I would like to be come a close friend (like inner circle type of friend all right?). The relationship still has some distance or separation. By the time I have a job, and am able to drive (which will be by the time I'm 18 as its going :P) THEN I'll consider something more. All your teenage years should be occupied with God, in fact, even afterwards and always should they be. My main reason for the age requirement is that I don't think you should get into a relationship unless it won't affect your relationship with God. Its all about maturity and maturity is lacking in a VERY BIG majority of teenagers nowadays. Think about it, if the person you're in a relationship with is NOT mature enough, someone becomes the other's idol. They put you before God in their life. And that sucks. You wanna be responsible for taking a guys'/girls' eyes off of God? I wouldn't. So I would willingly wait for the girl I like, and hope that she can wait for me to.

In conclusion (as I wrote this last night and probably forgot a whole bunch of stuff I wanted to write), here's a summary. Dating, a b/gfriend type relationship, is pointless unless you plan on (or considering) marrying the person (which is, as I said, probably isn't even seriously considered before the minimal age of 18). There is nothing wrong with liking someone and even being their best friend, but passing that point before you're ready isn't wise. What exactly are you looking for in a boy/girlfriend anyway? (please if you read this, post an actual comment answering this question) You can even go out on "dates" with your likened friend, but in groups (with OTHER people, prefferably more Christians as there will be less temptation this way). Alone time on a date will just lead you into wrong places/put you in tempting situations. Once you're older, you court them (now both of you know you like each other enough for marriage, so here would be the alone dating/getting to know em a lot better time), and then you get married. And hopefully like me, as corny as it sounds, I will also be able to give my virginity, to my spouse, as a gift because I waited for her. Got that?

This probably makes no sense to someone who isn't Christian (maybe to some it does), but someone who is surely must see my logic behind this. I'll probably post a lot more of the things in my mind later...

BTW I post this, knowing I gotta get closer to God, being in the same boat as a lot of you, and getting older as well. Heck, I'll be 18 the end of the month with a license and job, and I plan on getting married by the time I'm 22 (4 years) so it ain't too far off for me. Yet I'm doing my best to keep my focus on God, and I hope I can help others do the same.