“A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.” (Proverbs 10:4) Today, our youth are being raised up to believe that we, as a people, have no purpose and are encouraged to seek selfish, useless, and sinful desires. Brothers and sisters, I cannot tell you how many loved ones that I know that don’t find purpose in Christ Jesus, nor do they find the same joy and prosperity it provides as I have experienced it. I believe that we need to wake up and stop looking for short pleasurable comforts, and to answer God’s call on our lives. Furthermore, I see Christians today fall into the same trap of being self indulgent and making short unsatisfactory pleasures be their main focus. This article will explain how people fall into the unsatisfactory pleasures of the world, why laziness still pervades, and its solution.
How does our generation still have unfruitful and death-bringing laziness? Laziness stems from our purpose in life, so what is our purpose? Here is where you find the problem, because many schools and families are being taught many different worldviews and religions. The main ones being Christianity, Materialism, Deism, New spirituality, and Atheism. Now, something worth pointing out is how each one of these worldviews have different opinions of mankind’s purpose. Materialism, Atheism, and Deism don’t have a purpose for why we are here on earth, and New spirituality is a worldview that denies our reality, morals, and feelings as a whole. So if you were to believe in these worldviews hope of having a purpose would be irrelevant, so, of course, people would be depressed and lazy because there is nothing special about us and no hope for living.
But what if there was purpose? What if people were here on Earth for a satisfying and life-bringing purpose? Wouldn’t even the thought of hope for our lives being worth something be enough to try to see if it’s true? Are you tired of hating yourself or believing that love and life is meaningless? Because you as a person are worthy. Love, beauty, and purpose is real. There is a reason for how everything came to be and how every single thing in the universe is created beautifully and complex. Because God is the Creator of all things, who made and knows every single person, and we are created in the image of Him. He shows love, kindness, joy, beauty, creativeness, peace, mercy, and forgiveness. We can know all about God in His Word, the Bible. The Bible is the most reliable source of our origins out of all of the texts of any other religions. One major event that has actually been proven in historical sources, is the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Son of God, on the cross. Now getting back on track, We must first realize that a large portion of our generation doesn’t believe in our one true God. Instead, people are living in false beliefs that ultimately bring death and destruction. If we don’t know what is good and life-bringing, it is impossible to know how to have a joyful and purposeful life.
So if there is a true and life-bringing God that gives us purpose, why do we still fall into self indulgence? In the Beginning, when God created heaven and Earth and Adam and Eve, the first humans, Eve was tempted by a crafty and wicked snake, which was actually a fallen angel, Lucifer. Eve and then Adam chose disobedience towards God, which is sin. Because of that, mankind has a sinful nature of being disobedient towards God. Sin is the division of ourselves from God, meaning, when we sin we separate ourselves from life, truth and love, and If we fall into sin it is like a darkness that blinds us from seeing truth and life. God gave us free will to independently choose Him, and in that way we could love Him. So why do some Christians today seem to be depressed, lazy, and purposeless? The failure of the church to teach and admonish God’s people about wicked and wrong transgressions, idols, and worldviews of our past generations. The church has a responsibility to our youth to teach them about God and his life-giving Word and plans for us. However, Many of our churches are asleep to the wicked things that are happening to both our youth and future generations. We need to, as the body of Christ, reach out to our suffering loved ones and brethren to help them see a true purposeful life. And that is what God calls us to do, to desire a world that reflects Heaven; a place of harmony and life. America does not have a structural foundation of God’s truth in our education, family, and governmental system. It is baffling to see people being clueless as to why our youth today are saying to themselves that they are worth nothing and are living in despair and hatred. It is because families and education systems are not providing them the truth of who they are and to grow up to do righteous and purposeful work. The government of America is also failing because they are forgetting what they are founded on. God’s given laws which are self evident! How do you suppose America became the most prosperous and free nation? By people who believed that everything is made by a just and law-giving good God. America used to be fruitful when we had God-given passion. The reason why America is lazy now is because we forgot what we worked, fought, and lived for: God’s glory. In conclusion, We, as the body of Christ, need to spread the truth and encouragement of God’s victory to spark the fire in people’s hearts so we can do great and fruitful works to bring God’s kingdom.
Javen Suarez – 10th Grade