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 We all are in desperate need of love. Unfortunately, a lot of teenage girls and young women in this generation are looking for love in the wrong places. They look for it in a guy's physical attention and affection-and too often the attention they get comes from dressing immodestly and performing sexually. Some young women struggle with taking drugs, cutting themselves, and other various addictions, which usually stem from the hopelessness they face because of a lack of feeling deeply loved. The end results include extraordinarily low self-esteem, teen pregnancies, diseases, and even suicide.
Some of the angst and hopelessness I've seen among young people today arises from the genuine loss of reasons to live. Perhaps they've never really felt accepted-at home, or among their peers. One big problem with so many people is that they surround themselves with their peers who are searching just as desperately as they are. When we hang around people who are speaking negative things into our lives, it's tough to feel hopeful ourselves.
Where is God in all of this? Please know that God is passionate about His love for you. Everything else in the Christian life flows from that. We can get into a very legalistic place where faith just becomes religion, but the essence of the Christian life needs to be lived out from the knowledge of God's extravagant love. Once we understand and accept His love, so many other things in our lives fall into place. Things start to make sense. I can't imagine going through life without realizing how incredible God's love is for me. I don't know how people make it without this knowledge. This is the hope, truth, and life that this generation is looking for-and it's found in Jesus!
The cure for the hopelessness that exists in the lives of so many people today is radical hope, which is recorded all over the pages of the Bible. In the Psalms David often proclaimed to God that he had put his hope in Him alone (25:5, 21; 39:7; 62:5). The weeping prophet, Jeremiah, knew that it was only in the hope of the Lord that Israel would rise from the ashes (14:22; 29:11; 31:17; Lamentations 3:21-24).
We should live in such a way that others see our actions and attitudes and want what we have. The apostle Peter gives this challenge, "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect" (1 Peter 3:15).
The apostle of love, John, sums it all up so well:"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure" (1 John 3:1-3).
Do you know someone who is in desperate need of hope and love? Is there something simple you can do today to communicate God's love in a practical way? What about composing and sending a thoughtful letter or e-mail, serving the person in secret (by dropping off a surprise gift in her mailbox, or having flowers or a pizza delivered), or some other kind of thoughtful gesture? Then pray for God's love to break through the hopelessness that you sense.
I need to share through my life. From how I relate in my relationships with others to what I say onstage, the message is "we are extravagantly loved by God."
It's a message of hope this generation needs to hear. No matter where you've been and what you've done . . . you are loved.
Although most people think of the narrative Jesus told in Luke 15 as the parable of the prodigal son, in reality it is the story of the "loving father," because the lesson to be learned is more about the father's incredible love than the son's rebellion. Most everyone you know at one time or another has played the part of the prodigal. They have either run away from God through willful, deliberate sin for a relatively short season of time, or have left the fold and sought to live their own way for an extended period. When that happens, what's the appropriate response? Much has been written about the necessity for tough love from parents and friends toward one who has willingly turned aside to wallow in the mire of a pigs' sty. But, even though the father in this story allowed his son his freedom (and even gave him his inheritance), he never stopped looking and waiting for his return home. And his message would always be, "You are loved."
Is there someone in your life that needs to know he is loved? Do you have a friend who is broken and desperately needs to know that she is loved?
Our Abba Father's love for all of His creation is far beyond anything we can possibly imagine. Pray for an opportunity to speak God's words of love to the one who desperately needs to hear those words!
Rebecca |
