“By faith Moses, … [chose] rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt.”
Hebrews 11:24-26
With the deluge of information on the World Wide Web, it is sometimes difficult to discern fact from fiction, but according to various reported studies, somewhere between 60 and 80 percent of previously committed Christian youth become disinterested with their faith as they transition into college. Why is it that so many of our youth seem to leave Christianity for the pleasures of this world? In the context of the parable of the Prodigal Son, why do so many leave the safety and love of the Father, for the stench of the pig pen?
Abraham Piper, son of the well-known preacher John Piper, rebelled against the truth of the gospel as a teenager, and was eventually excommunicated from the Church in which his father served as Senior Pastor. After many prayers and through God’s rich grace, he repented of his sin, and was restored to the Lord Jesus Christ. Abraham Piper offers twelve recommendations to help parents reach out to their wayward children. His first exhortation is to “Point them to Christ”. He elaborates, “Your rebellious child’s real problem is not drugs or sex or cigarettes or porn or laziness or crime or cussing or slovenliness or homosexuality or being in a punk band. The real problem is that your child doesn’t see Jesus clearly.”
After listing ten other recommendations, he ends his list, as he started it, with: “Point them to Christ! This can’t be stressed enough. When they see the wonder of Jesus, satisfaction will be redefined. He Himself will replace the money, or the praise of man, or the high, or the sex that they are staking their eternities on right now. Only His grace can draw them from their perilous pursuits and bind them safely to Him—captive, but satisfied.”
May God forgive us wherein our lives have, perhaps unwittingly, sent the message to our children that money, or the praise of men, or the luxuries of this life, are what we live for. May God use our words and our lives to point the next generation to the true satisfaction, found in Christ alone!