I’ve discovered that life is a result of choices. Certain decisions must be made in order for me to achieve my ideal future. It’s also worth noting that humans has been given the ability to make decisions.
“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses.
Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!” (Deuteronomy 30:19)
- Wrong company
“Beware of being deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.” (NIV) 1 Corinthians 15:33. You must associate with the appropriate people if you want to grow in wisdom and knowledge of our Lord Jesus. And recognizing this group of people necessitates the assistance of our faithful companion, the Holy Spirit.
Many times, the adversary deceives us into believing that we can stay in a bad organization and still maintain our ideals. This, however, does not occur, and it is part of the devil’s plan to derail God’s children. When we go in the wrong company, we will get carried away in one way or another and progressively descend until we are consumed by our deeds.
How do I pick up the right company? Many people ask, you must understand your purpose, clearly state your life goals, and ask the Holy Spirit to assist you in identifying persons who share your goals and purpose.
- Inefficient use of time
I wish I had made different decisions when I was younger. I squandered a lot of time on unproductive pursuits. In retrospect, I wish I had spent more time on activities that added value to my life.
You might argue that God’s grace is sufficient; it is, and it can help you make up for lost time; yet, consider where you would have started and where you would be today if not for the time you wasted in the past.
How can I stay away from time-consuming activities? Every action that consumes a significant amount of your time must be audited. Examine how much time you spend on social media and other things. Avoid chit-chat that isn’t necessary.
- Irrational and ignorant disputes
This point may be included in the category of time-wasting activities, but it’s vital to clarify. We must avoid pointless and ineffective debates (2 Timothy 2:23). These disagreements squander our time, damage our thoughts, and leave us in a bad situation. When you’re tempted to get caught up in pointless, dumb debates, stand up and leave the room. Close your phone and go on to something more useful if the venue is your phone.
- Loose conversations
The term “loose talk” refers to conversations that have no clear, precise, or positive goal. This also leads to a lot of talking, and as we all know, sin abounds in a lot of words (Proverbs 10:19).
“It is not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; it is the words that come out of your mouth that pollute you,” our Lord Jesus Christ says plainly in Matthew 15:11.
Clearly, the words we express with our mouths are more important. We must be cautious with our remarks as teenagers. As the words we speak today serve as the foundation for tomorrow’s success.
- Youthful lust
Apostle Paul warns Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:22 to avoid young lusts. To put it another way, Apostle Paul encouraged Timothy to avoid all forms of adolescent lusts. This is something that we all go through at some point in our life.
Lust is an unpleasant and sometimes destructive longing for something forbidden. Furthermore, young lusts refer to lusts that are specifically directed at teenagers.
Younger lusts refer to aspects of our lives in which we have not yet reached full maturity. We must resist the lure of adolescent lusts and seek God’s righteousness, faith, love, and peace instead.
- Following trends blindly
The term “trend” is defined by the dictionary as “the general direction in which something develops or changes.” As teenagers, we are always resisting the urge to go on the bandwagon. We are continually looking for the current trends and what appears to be popular.
I’m not arguing that following trends is a terrible thing. In fact, in order to remain relevant in our various domains of life, we must be able to adapt successfully, which may include making changes in response to changing circumstances.
One area where teenagers fall short is following the incorrect trend, which obviously leads to undesirable results or direct disobedience of God’s word. We must follow God’s word and allow everything we do be directed by it.
- S3xual immorality
Apostle Paul concludes his epistles several times in the New Testament with guidelines for Christian living, and one of the charges for a successful Christian life is to “avoid sexual immorality” (1 Thessalonians 4:3, Eph 5:3, Acts 15:29).
Why did Apostle Paul take such a strong stance against sexual immorality? He reminded the Thessalonians, Ephesians, and even the Corinthians that sexual immorality was a sin against their own body, which was God’s Spirit’s temple (1 Corinthians 6:18).
Furthermore, Hebrews 13:4 reveals God’s perfect will for the marriage bed. “All should respect marriage, and the marriage bed should be kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all sexually immoral people” (Hebrews 13:4).
S3xual immorality pollutes our physical, mental, and spiritual selves. Human beings were meant to be pure in both body and spirit. A aspect of its purity was sexual connection between a husband and wife (Genesis 2:24–25).
S3x before marriage, in my opinion, screws up our minds and destroys the beauty God intended for sex. S3xual immorality skews our perceptions of s3x and leads to erroneous conclusions.
When we come together in marriage, God designed the marriage bed to be undefiled so that our souls are not fractured. Does this imply that persons who have had sex outside of marriage are not entitled to restitution?
There is, without a doubt! God’s perfect will for us, on the other hand, is that we keep ourselves pure and wait for the man or woman who will be entirely worth it.
- Lack of personal prayer Alter
There is a space for corporate prayer, which is when the saints join to pray to God collectively. Having a personal prayer alter, a meeting place between you and God, and a personal prayer closet, on the other hand, is quite important.
God’s desire for your life can be found on the altar of prayer. Every young person should make this a habit since it will benefit them as they get older. Prayer, as my preacher says, never dies.
The prayers that are being said now will be an answer to a request that will be made in the future. When the Apostle Paul declared, “Pray without ceasing,” he was so right.
- Lack of direction
When we discover our purpose early in life, we are better prepared to make decisions that will lead us to our destiny. Major decisions like who to marry, which church to join, and even which course to take will not be made lightly.
We are better positioned to be all that God has called us to be and avoid becoming entangled in young lusts when we find purpose early in life. The nice thing about purpose is that we may always ask God, the giver, to reveal it to us.
- The devil finds work for the idle, get involved in Godly activities like going to church, evangelising, winning souls for Christ, helping peopleto know God and taking part in communal activities.
I hope you have found this article very useful. These are the things I wish I did very well in my days as a young adult. But it isn’t too late for me, my dear friend, is not too late for you too. The time to make a change is now. Let us cleanse ourselves from all wrongdoing so we can become useful to God and prepared to do any good work, God bless you.
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