[1 John Series 2] Real Life Walks In The LightSample

Don’t give up! Don’t give up! Don’t give up!

I think some parents have given up. We think, “Well, boys will be boys and girls will be girls. That’s just what they do.”

Hear me loud and clear. You don’t have to look at pornography. You don’t have to have sex before marriage. You don’t have to party and get drunk. You don’t have to cheat or lie. You don’t have to cuss. You don’t have to experiment with drugs. You can be a godly man or woman and walk with God.

Some of us think, “Everybody does it.” No. Not everybody. That is a normalization of something destructive. In fact if everybody is doing it, that might be the reason why you shouldn’t do it. Sin hinders our fellowship with God, and it hinders our fellowship with others; it messes with your relationship with your son, your daughter, or your parents, because sin always rips apart relationships. No one in the history of the world has said, “My family is awesome because my dad had an affair. My family is incredible because my mom is an alcoholic. The disobedience of our kids has done more for our unity than anything.” No. Sin always separates. It is the real joy-killer. 

Yet we create this dysfunctional world and we justify ourselves. Some folks are living in self-deception. They have divided personal holiness, which is walking with God in the light, from social justice, which is changing the world and making it better. Those two things have to connect.

This younger generation is more into opposing human trafficking than any other before. And yet, this generation is also more into pornography than any other. We think these two don’t connect, but they do—pornography is funding human trafficking. Rejecting personal holiness, while working for social justice, is like rallying against a corrupt politician and then donating to his campaign.

We change the world when we realize personal holiness and social justice are connected. The abolitionists that ended slavery were believers in Jesus that realized that God had placed equal, intrinsic value in every person. Hospitals were started by believers who wanted to help and minister to people in their greatest need. Believers started orphanages because they realized kids are precious to God.

Do not live self-deceived. God is calling every one of us to walk in the light. Every teenager can be a godly teenager and walk with God. Parents, the high calling that we have is to help them do that.