What youth lack in their relationship with God
By Faith Goldy, Youth Speak News
Dear youth: God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit exist. They are real, so is Mother Mary, and I have experienced their intercession in my life more times than I can count. The Bible is a living text, directly inspired by God, and I have been a witness to its truth. Wait, you don’t need me to tell you these things. You read publications like this one because you already know all this — because you are a believer.
As believers though, are we complete in our relationships with God simply because we know He exists? I can’t speak for the lot of us. However, based on experience, there are a few epiphanies I can share regarding what it is we — as youth — lack in our relationships with Him.
As believers though, are we complete in our relationships with God simply because we know He exists? I can’t speak for the lot of us. However, based on experience, there are a few epiphanies I can share regarding what it is we — as youth — lack in our relationships with Him.
We lack humility. The teachings of this world — in the classroom or on television — tell us that it is righteous to seek honour, glory and power for ourselves. God invites us to live differently. He teaches us the benefits to our own lives, here and into eternity, through Jesus’ example. “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7).
We lack time for God. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 tells us there is a time for everything, but when making time for God, I am referring to praises, petitions and preaching the Good News to others. We say, “we are students, siblings, sons and daughters — how are we to find time for God in our day?” Truthfully, I think obligations and schedules are excuses. I say this in all humility as such excuses I have also muttered on several occasions.
I resent my inability to gloss over what these thoughts have led me to conclude. It seems as though our lack of time for God is rooted in a lack of love for Him. When you love someone abundantly, you are sure to make time for him or her in your schedule, however busy you might be. So many of us young believers are more excited to call a friend than to call on God, despite the fact that He created us, loves us and answers us unconditionally.
God teaches us how to stay mindful of our love for Him, by using all of our heart and soul, which cleaves us to His presence and causes us to make more time for Him as we serve Him in our lives.
Lastly, we lack trust. It is easy to be a Christian on Sunday mornings. But, when the week’s events bring trials and turmoil, we lose trust in God’s omnipresence and omniscience at work in our lives. Even though we try to go about things our own way, Isaiah 26:4 teaches us that trust in the Lord leads to strength, one that is everlasting.
We find that it is not our relationships with God alone that are bettered by these things that so many of us lack, but the good of our whole being. Humility on Earth leads to exaltation in eternity, time and love for God leads to union with His presence, and trust leads to an everlasting strength founded on His love for us.
(Goldy, 20, is a political science and history student at the University of Toronto.)
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