What Does It Mean to Be a Teenager?

What does that term, teenager, mean exactly? Being a teenager myself, I have considered what it means to be a young adult. Who am I? What are my ambitions? Where and how do I want to live out my life? All these things are worthy of speculation at my age; after all, it is my generation that is responsible for the future.

Young Christians need to be aware of this.

Our job as followers of Christ is to glorify God and live out our lives in faith, worthy of a calling that trumps all pursuits of this world. We are representatives of the kingdom of God; we must be willing and prepared to take on the responsibility of adulthood as we grow and mature into young men and women.

Don't Waste Your Youth

What we need to see are teenagers taking their role seriously, living out life in obedience to Christ. Has my generation become complacent and lax, without a long-term vision? Have we become so obsessed with the here and now that we can’t see past tomorrow? Most young people grow up assuming that they have their whole lives ahead of them to do whatever they want. This isn't the mindset we want to slip into. The strength and vigor of youth is not meant to be squandered away over worthless pursuits and pastimes. It's here today and gone tomorrow. When we are old, we will look back and evaluate the decisions we made, how we used our time; more importantly though, we will be accountable to our Creator.

Make an Impact

While we are here, in this life, we need to be doing something for the Lord. Our days are numbered, so we have no idea how long we are going to be around, but as long as God gives us life, strength, talents, opportunities, and so on, we don't have an excuse to be lazy. God didn't surround us with these outlets for no reason. We need to invest everything we have toward building His Kingdom while we have the chance.

Ground Yourself on God's Word

How can we thrive and mature if we don't know God's Word? We can't! It grows us, teaches us, and gives us a confidence that cannot be shaken when we are met with opposition. If we don't know God's Word, we will encounter confusion when faced with problems we don't have answers for. But God's Word does have answers for every situation we find ourselves in. For that reason, it is so important for us to know it. God's Word is our foundation; if we read it, study it, and know it, we can be aware of false teachings and stay rooted in truth when winds of faulty doctrine come sweeping through our lives:

. . . that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting . . . (Ephesians 4:14)

I think that many Christian teens have lost their vision, a sense of responsibility, and their expectations for the future. More and more we are seeing young people lose interest and zeal, forgetting they are supposed to be the radical world-changers, the Christ-kindled floodlights surrounded by a dark, unbelieving generation that needs to hear the gospel. Don’t let that be you.