Truth For Youth
Others can, but you cannot
“Keep thyself pure” (1 Timothy 5:22)
“Flee also youthful lust” (2 Timothy 2:22)
When young Joseph was tempted by his master's wife, he fled out. At that spot of lust and temptation Joseph asked, 'how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God'? (Genesis 39:9). This is the question that each one of you should ask your own conscience in the time of temptation. Unspoiled lives are of greater value to the Lord. Damaged goods never yield the full price. Other worldly young folk are free to do what they like and have plenty of time and money for sport and pleasures, but you as a child of God, have to fix your eyes on Jesus. Even when the worldly friends draw your attention to the vanities of life, you should be bold enough to say 'no' to such things in the very beginning itself. Otherwise your mind gets corrupted by these evils and it will lead you to the destruction of your soul.
The Lord promises to deliver the souls which are hunted by vanities and divinations (Ezekiel 13:20). If Satan can make the youth take in small doses of sin at a time, eventually they may become desensitized and do not recognize that they are being fed with something that will dull their interest in God. It is like the boy who tried to boil a frog. He filled up the beaker with water, put it on the burner until it was boiling and then put the frog in. Immediately it jumped out of the water. Had the boy put the frog in cold water and then slowly turned up the heat, the frog would have gotten used to the surroundings and put up with increasing heat, unaware it was boiling to death. This is Satan’s strategy to capture young minds through one small compromise into darkness after another. Your best defense is to know the Word of God which prevents you from a fall. As you flee from sin, you must pursue righteousness or the void will once again be filled with a perversion of love called lust.
The white spotless fur of Ermine, the carnivore is famous for making the fur coats. The animal never permits itself to be soiled in the slightest degree. No traps are set for them to catch. Instead hunters find out their home in tree stumps or rocky cleft and daub filth within and around the entrance. Then the dogs are loosed and the chase begins. The animal naturally turns to its home. It prefers to be the prey to the dogs rather than entering into the filthy shelter to be defiled.
DEAR FRIEND, KEEP THYSELF PURE, SO THAT GOD’S PURPOSE CAN BE FULFILLED IN YOUR LIFE.