Youth (Church)

Remember not the sins of my youth and my transgressions . . . 

 - From Psalm 25

God understands youthful indiscretion. In Old Testament times, with a few exceptions, He seemed to wait until people were fairly old, before calling them to His service. Abraham was about a hundred. Noad was way up there. 

David was called at a young age, and still messed up, while yet an unseasoned king. 

Jesus waited until He was at least thirty-something to launch His formal ministry. His "silent years," between the ages of about twelve and thirty are perhaps a model to us. Those would be good years for any young person to remove him or herself from society, for learning, reflection, growing (this was probably the original intent of college).

God seems willing to overlook our dumb activities up until we're about thirty. 

Therefore, the responsibility for the well-being of young people, all the way up to twenty-five, at least, rests on our shoulders. Yours and mine. 

If young people (anybody up to twenty-five years of age) goes out and destroys property, or makes other reckless decisions that hurt themselves and others, it pretty much is because we have allowed it to happen, or have even enabled it to happen. When young people act out, it is probably because of a sense of frustration that nobody seems to care. Before hitting twenty, they are already wracked with crippling debt and fears for the future that become further debilitating. They may feel they have no where else to go, and just start swinging their arms about, literally, or figuratively on social media. 

It gets worse when older people look the other way, or even openly endorse the emotional and non-reflective reactions of the young. God will, and does, forgive them. But we are expected to establish an orderly community that is safe for our youth, and elders. 

All of them.

King David had a lot of regrets. So do we. Chalk it up to youth and foolishness.