Young Men

Hey Guys,
It's been awhile since I did one of these. I really want to get back in the habit of them. They really helped me out, keeping me accountable. So please feel free to comment or critique. There will be grammatical errors for all you english people, so I apologize now if I don't catch everything. I really was to start making this an everyday or every couple days thing so bookmark it or follow or whatever the special term people like to use now.
Thanks,

"I write to you dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of His name. I write you fathers, because you have known who He is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you dear children, because you have known the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one." 1 John 2: 12-14

This passage from 1 John is what we looked at on Sunday during our college/young adult bible study. You know it funny how you can hear something a few years back and then hear the exact same thing in the present and you take it a complete opposite way then you did the first time. Growing up in a Lutheran family and raised for the first 15 years in a Lutheran church, I was baptized at birth by my parents decision and then confirmed in 8th grade. In my non-denominational church there are classes to take before you get baptized. Same in the Lutheran church. Before you publicly confirm your faith (Confirmation) there are classes that we had to take. I remember back in 8th grade this passage was one of the lessons we had. Though the teacher was most likely teaching us as we were the young men the apostle John was writing to, I remember hearing it and considering myself as one of the children.

Now lets be honest. How many 13 year old's can you honestly consider as an young adult. Even though we may wish that we were, were not. Not even close to it. Ok, maybe you think you were, I know for me personally I'd rather have the new game system, clothes, basketball shoe, even the new Jay-Z album. I remember getting it and my mom took it because it had bad language. For years I was upset that she did that. There was one word that I hated to hear. Responsibility. That word even scared me up until about a year ago. It's not an age that qualifies you as an adult. It's responsibility, and how you handle those responsibilities. Now I'm not saying that I'm a full adult yet, I still have to work on some of my own basic responsibilities. But I think that's what John was trying to teach the "young men" in this chapter.

Paul says "I write to you, young men, because you are STRONG, and the WORD OF GOD lives IN you, and you have OVERCOME the evil one." That's not a "hey good job guys" or a " yay, your a christian". Its a bold command. When looking at the context of the passage you find out that John is talking to a small church, helping them grow. The children of the church are young, they really can't do to much. The adults, they are getting old, there is no nice way to say it. But the young men, thats our Responsibility to grow the church. That's were the church needs to grow today. We live in a society based on influences. Who are the role models today? Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods, Ben Rothlisberg, those guys have all gone through giant sex scandals. How about actors and actresses in Hollywood going on 3rd and 4th marriages. Why don't we ever hear about guys like NBA Star David Robinson, who would sit in his hotel room at night when all his teammates would go out and he would write church music. Or Dave Dravecky, he lost much of his shoulder to cancer. But he did what was considered impossible: trusting in God, Dravecky came back to pitch again only to have his bone in his throwing arm snap in mid-pitch. Dravecky now goes about telling his testimony to groups across the country. Thank the Lord there are guys like Tim Tebow. There is a guy who all throughout his college career has proclaimed he was a Christian. There stories from guys on his team that say Tim was the best thing that ever happened to them. That through his example of Christ love and kindness they came to know Jesus Christ.

Do you friends know that your a Christian? Can they tell that you live a life for Christ? Or is He someone that you just keep in your back pocket for security, maybe take him out when your at church so everyone can you. There are not enough young people taking a stand for Christ. Statistic show that at the rate that we are going by 2020 there will be more Muslims in the U.S. than there are Christians. That is only TEN years! TEN!!!! We call ourselves a country founded on Christian principles. "One nation, under GOD, Indivisible." Let not let that happen. Lets take the Responsibility, take the stand for Christ. It doesn't matter how big or small of a role we take. We just need to take one.