Is it worth it? It’s your choice.
You teens face the greatest challenge of all time! Only twice in human history has the world been so bad—before the great Flood in Noah’s day and during the time of Sodom and Gomorrah (Luke 17:26-30).
This world is a jungle of swill, pornography, rape, lying, cheating, killing, hating, drug addiction, broken families—and you’re surrounded by it. You are exposed to it 24/7. You’re fed a continuous diet of sexual messages from morning until night. You see it in tv shows, on the news, in commercials and on the Internet. At school, it’s all around you.
It takes a special breed of determined teens to stand up under the pressure of this tantalizing kingdom of Satan that rules this Earth today. You need to have strong character to resist it.
Yet, every teen in the Church has most likely asked himself or herself, at one time or another: Is it worth the effort? Why should I struggle to resist the pulls of the flesh and the society around me? It would be a lot easier to just give in and “go with the flow.” I would fit in and not be so weird.
I hope I can show you teens why it is so worth it to resist the ways of the world that you see around you today.
First, let’s understand that in the beginning, everything God made, including man, was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). He made a stunningly beautiful world with an absolutely perfect environment.
But then, along came Satan. He perverted everything good. He turned everything upside down. He convinced Adam and Eve that God was holding them back—that He wasn’t being totally honest with them. The devil had them so confused that they came to believe that what God had said was good was actually evil, and vice versa.
Today, the end result of Satan’s way of thinking surrounds us. All the misery, the pain, the suffering, the unhappiness, the discontent, the pollution—it all stems from the choices that Adam and Eve made under Satan’s influence. The choices we make that lead to our being unhappy, unsatisfied and unfulfilled, God calls sin. That’s why God says sin is bad for us—because it causes pain and misery.
A November 1969 Good News article titled “Is God Fair to Teenagers?” says: “Sin is like the first step down an open elevator shaft. It’s a real thrill on the way down! A short thrill that ends in a heap of rubble.” Please realize this, teens: God wants you to have those thrills—but without the crash that causes the pain and misery! God’s laws are simply His instructions that teach us how to have fun the right way—without the damaging side effects. He wants us to enjoy life and have fun! That’s why He gives us His laws.
Still, it’s not easy doing things God’s way in this world because it is ruled by Satan and his henchmen, the demons. They are constantly doing all they can to prevent you from submitting to God. Why? Because they don’t want you to see for yourself that God’s way really works—that it really does make people happy.
Will Satan get to you? Yes, he will, unless you have the vision of what your future is really going to be like! If you don’t have that vision, you will not be truly convinced that rejecting the ways of Satan’s world and submitting to God is really worth it.
Without that vision, you may feel that God isn’t fair; you may feel robbed or cheated because the worldly teens seem to be having all the fun. If you feel deprived and think all the other teens are having all the fun, then you’re headed for the bottom of that elevator shaft.
You might think: The world’s coming to an end, and I’m going to miss out on everything! I’m never going to have the chance to really have fun!
Please understand this vital point: This world, this planet called Earth, is never going to end. What’s coming to an end is this society that causes the heartache, pain, sadness and misery we see all around us, and it will be replaced by something so much greater—so much more fun! What’s coming to an end is Satan’s rule over this planet because God is going to install His government over the Earth with Jesus Christ as King.
The planet will then be restored to its original beauty and condition—as God created it before Satan, and then man, ruined it. That’s where we come in! We have a vital role in God’s plan for planet Earth and the people that live through the Great Tribulation. And that includes you teens—you have specific roles too!
Read Revelation 1:12-16. These verses describe Jesus Christ—the King of kings and Lord of lords. But who are those other kings and lords (rulers and teachers) under Christ? That’s talking about your converted parents, first of all. If they endure to the end, they will look like that too!
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