OK, so the title got your attention and you’re wondering what right I have to ask such an audacious question. Before you rule out reading this article, let me say that I believe with all of my heart that teenagers have a real need for God in their life. They need God’s friendship, God’s power, God’s encouragement, and God’s comfort in their daily lives. There’s no question about it, we’re living in an era where teenagers who live life apart from God and His truth truly are hopeless.
The truth is that the reality that teenagers need God and how their lives are lived out in their families, their schools and their churches are at complete opposites…and at times they really don’t have a need for God. Teenagers today have everything they could ever want. Long gone are the days where most teenagers have to work to buy their first car, let alone their clothes, their food, their video game stations), and their cell phones (with unlimited texting). Teenagers today receive a lot of handouts. Consequences for their actions are unheard of, and how dare we make our teenagers feel uncomfortable in a social setting. Giving everything to teenagers that they want isn’t encouraging students to have a “dependence” on God and a constant need in their life for His help.
I recently was at a gathering of junior high students and I was astonished at how many of them had their own cell phones (yes, 6th grade students were texting at this event). To be honest, I was bothered, irritated and curious as to why a junior high student has a need for a cell phone. Are they and their family so busy that the child has to have their own cell phones? I proceeded to ask several of these students who was paying the cell phone bill, and they told me that “mom and dad” were. How is paying for a junior high students cell phone encouraging them to “need God”? The more we give our children and the more needs they have that are met, the less likely they are to need God in their daily lives.
I recently was in one of our area high schools, and I was amazed at the amount of vehicles in the student parking lot. Some of these vehicles were brand new and nicer than most of the cars in the teacher parking lot. What ever happened to five or six year old cars with a few problems that teenagers inherit as their first car, and are responsible for maintaining these cars. Just because a family has the financial means to buy a reputable and classy car, is it necessarily the best for the teenager? How does it encourage students in their daily need for a higher power to direct them in their lives? Can’t they get along with a used car just as much as them have a new or close to new car?
Teenagers have very little needs (materially speaking) in their lives today. Their cars are nicer, they have all the latest gadgets, a lot of things are handed out to them, they have very little ownership in their possessions, and this translates to their interaction with the God of the universe. They have very little need for God and His activity in their lives. Everything is taken care of. Clothes on their backs, cars to drive, TV’s and computers in their rooms, any sport they want to play is granted, dance lessons, piano lessons, iPOD’s, and discretionary money often given to them by parents to spend as they see fit.
As a youth pastor, I’m serious about students developing a passionate relationship with Jesus Christ. In order for this to take place, their needs to be “gaps” or “needs” in their lives. When a teenager has everything they could ever want, is this necessarily right? Sometimes depriving a student from life’s luxuries produces dependence on other people and ultimately on God Himself (this is ultimately the message of the New Testament…living in community with people and with God).
Mandy and I have two small children, but when Logan (our oldest) is old enough to get his driver’s license, his first car will be a used car (not a jalopy, rather just a used car). He won’t have all the gadgets, and he’s going to have to have some ownership in some of his material possessions. This flows out of our desire for Logan to see that he needs God to meet His needs (materially, socially, emotionally, and spiritually). If mom and dad meet all of his material needs, where in the world will Logan sense in his own life that He needs God? We have a passion to see that Logan recognizes that God is the “giver of all good things” and that everything that He needs can be found in God Himself…not his parents, or his church, or his school’s athletic program, or his car or even his iPOD, but God Himself.
We’re living in a successful world, and each of us craves for success in every facet of our lives. I recently came across this great statement: “The greatest danger that success brings, aside from arrogance, is the fear to lose what has been gained.” May we who love teenagers and want the best for their lives (parents, coaches, youth leaders, community leaders) encourage students to have a “loose grip” on their earthly possessions, and encourage them at times to do without certain gadgets or material things. Moving in this direction will create a generation that is “content” with what they have, and encourage in their lives a need for God.
I hope I’ve stirred your thoughts and got you thinking!
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