Argh....

I am frustrated. Really frustrated. And sad. Definitely sad. Nothing makes me more sad than to find an old friend / student / mentor on say, Facebook and then to read their profiles. What they are interested in. What they listen to. What they read or watch. At least 90% of the time I am shocked at what I find there. Maybe I shouldn't be but I am. I guess I trust people and I take them for what I believe they are...what they put in front of me for me to believe they are. Maybe I shouldn't be so trusting because then I wouldn't be so horrifically disappointed when I find out what they really were when I knew them in college, or what they have become since leaving our church and entering college or just going off to live their lives the way they see fit.

However, the way they see fit is a complete turn from what they were raised to be or what they were taught to be. I know what the Bible says. Pr 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." I also know that God's word does not return void. I also know, that growing up in a Christian home, that how you live your life is more caught than taught and that every child has a rebellious streak no matter what. I also know from first-hand experience that no child is an angel. ;) I also know that they will act one way with you and another way away from you (the parent). I also know that they can have their parents completely snowed. I did for a while. Maybe I still do! LOL! Who knows!

Where am I going with this? I'm going down the line of personal responsibility. Responsibility to be the best Christian you can be so that you can be a blameless example and testimony of the the faith to the younger generation around us. The Bible talks of a falling away in this verse: 2Th 2:3 "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;" But what we forget is to fight that falling away! We don't have to LET it happen people! In Jude 22-23 it says, "And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.:" We have high praise for the preachers and people of days gone by that called sin what it was and made it look and sound as bad as it really was. They weren't afraid to get up and let you know that the sin you were living in was dark and deadly. They didn't care about your feelings on the matter. They just told you like it was. Boy have those days gone. Today we pussy-foot around and hedge about the topics afraid to broach them for fear of driving someone away or making them angry with us. Do you think once they go out and ruin their life and possibly other's lives, that they'll wish you had kept your mouth shut and not warned them??? Do you think that they'll hate you for telling them how they could have avoided these pits of sin they've fallen into? No. No one that goes that far wishes someone would not have told them how to avoid it. They all wish someone had told them. Why do we feel the need now to candy-coat everything? To tiptoe through the tulips with these kids.

I am also frustrated with myself. What kind of Christian am I exactly? yes, I am an independent, fundamental, Bible-thumping, Baptist. Blood bought and blood washed. KJV 1611 toting. I'm all that. But what I'm asking myself is, how am I living my life? Is it a tool of conviction to others around me? By just knowing the type of life I live, would others be ashamed for me to even KNOW what they've been doing or listening to or reading if its against God? Apparently not. Why is it that these people can just buddy right up to me and act like its no big deal? Like I shouldn't notice they're looking like, sounding like, and acting like carnal goats? Am I not supposed to say anything about this? I am not a believer in just life-style evangelism by itself. Sometimes, more often than not, you have to use your mouth and your feet and get the Word of God out into people's lives. You can't just live it. But you should live it. You should be a good Christian. But, are you wishywashy? Are you so flaky that most people know you're just a Christian in name only? You don't really live like it. You listen to the same garbage they do. You watch the same garbage they do. You talk about the same garbage they do. What makes you different? I want to be different. I want my life to be convicting to those around me. I want my life to be lived in such a way that when my kids grow up and leave home that they would avoid getting into the sin of the world if for no other reason than simply because they know it would crush their parents' hearts. I pray daily for my children's salvation but that also Jesus would keep them from the wickedness out there. That I would have the wisdom to train them up in the way they should go.

I feel as though I'm saying all this like bird shot.....going everywhere but where I want it to go.

However, this is what bugs me. I know that children are a product of their parents and their homes. But what is going on in those homes that these kids can just go out and live in sin and the parents act like it doesn't bother them or that nothing is wrong. I know people try to keep things quiet and I understand you don't want your dirty laundry hanging out for all to see. I wouldn't. But when your kids go off and start living like the devil and then come back to church or to visit and you'd have to be a blind bat to not notice the difference, admit there's a problem. I am tired of finding people on Facebook that I went to college with that are completely different than what I thought they were in school. I realize that when in Bible college you have to live like the administration lays down for you to live. However, please, do the world a favor and just be yourself! That way when we find you 8 years down the road after graduation, we aren't SHOCKED at what we see on your profile. Foul language. Seductive pictures. Music that would make any Christian blush. Do us another favor, don't identify yourself as a Christian if you aren't going to be one. That makes the rest of us look bad. Don't try to make us believe that God's okay with you spouting off nasty four-lettered language everywhere. Or that He agrees with you showing off more than half your body. Or that He agrees with you partying till the sun comes up. Or that He agrees with the trash you pour into your ears and eyes from celebrities that have no more morals than a dog. Wait, that's probably an insult to the canine species. At any rate, I have been strongly convicted recently about the status of my Christian life and how I'm being used to influence others for Christ. I've decided to make Jude 22-23 my focus verses for a while. Not my life verse but a few verses for such a time as this. Our young people are quickly getting away. What future do they have in the world? What future do they have with ruined and wasted lives? We can stop it. We can make a difference. "And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh."