God's Plans for Young People

 In many churches, we see almost only older people or perhaps a few children. Where are the young adults?

Many are walking away from God, some as teenagers and others in their 20s.

This is nothing new. Jesus told us about the prodigal son.

As a grandfather, I sometimes wonder what I have done wrong.

In the parable of the prodigal son, the father was perfectly loving and unblemished, like God Himself, but I must acknowledge with shame that I am not a perfect saint.

When my children were young, I was often legalistic or overwhelmed by my personal problems.

Step by step, I had to learn to recognise my mistakes and understand God's ways better, but in the meantime, my children were often frustrated by my mistakes.

Thank God I am teachable and my adult children now realise this.

If you want teachable teenagers or adult children, you must be teachable yourself.
Nothing is more off-putting to teenagers than parents and older people who are opinionated and inflexible.

In the old Christian culture, the priests, pastors and parents were always supposed to be unquestionably right. Right was right and wrong was wrong. Preachers and parents were supposed to know everything and always understand everything better.

But this tradition no longer works.
The world has changed drastically. People with old ways of thinking can no longer cope with the new reality.

Should we simply throw holiness and justice overboard? Many do, but God has not changed.

Jesus is our guide and is always ready to solve our problems.
How does Jesus appear in the Bible?

The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Jn 1:17 NRSV

God's truth is eternal. Jesus himself is God's truth.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jn 14:6 NRSV

God's truth is indispensable, but Jesus first revealed grace and only then the truth. Jesus appeared as an itinerant preacher who demonstrated God's grace through kindness and miraculous healings.

Only later did he reveal his true identity, that he is the Son of God.

We need God's grace and wisdom so that we can understand how to apply God's truth in new situations.

If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. Jas 1:5 NRSV

But God himself is at work. A recent survey in Germany showed that the young age group, i.e. those under 30, are more faithful than older age groups.

But we older Christians must learn to accept a different Christian culture, because God himself expresses himself differently to young people than he does to us.

Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.

I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Is 43:18–19 NRSV

For many older Christians, today's culture seems like a desert where nothing can flourish, but God has wonderful plans for the new generation.