Yesterday we looked what faith looked like in a young, single teenage/woman in Jesus' time. Ann mentioned that Mary didn't waver, even when she knew her reputation might be ruined and her espousal voided. She didn't ask for a sign as so many before her had done. She just submitted. Sometimes our young people give us the best examples. Their faith is sometimes more childlike than ours. I know we have at least one ghost reader. If there are any others that are young like Mary, you should know that you are not too young to have a strong, mature faith.
None of the readers I am aware of are still young, single teenage/women but some of us have the opportunity to teach them or have them as daughters. Today your assignment is to think about the issues these teenagers/young women face in our society and find two passages that might help them to face these issues. Share the issue and the passages with the group.
2 comments:
My teenage girl and I chatted about today's topic and about God's choice in Mary (Gabriel told her that she had found favor with God.) I asked her: "What do you think would interfere with any young lady finding favor with God today?"
The first subject she mentioned was the acceptance (and expectation) of sexual immorality in teenagers. We talked about how the sin of sex before marriage is only one part of sexual immorality -- how the way girls dress, speak and behave has a huge effect on how approachable they are by boys who would not treat them with respect. We also talked about how lack of obedience to parents can lead girls to be in dangerous situations. Teenagers are too young and naive to know all the places, means and ways that they can be susceptible to the temptation of sexual sin. That's why it's so important for them to obey their parents' commands, even if they don't completely understand them.
We discussed 1 Corinthians 6, verses 18 through 20 in particular. First, we talked about the word "flee". When it comes to sin, you don't just try to ignore it. You don't try to be strong and resist it. You run in the opposite direction! We also talked about the fact that sexual immorality is a sin a person commits against his or her own body. From disease to unwanted pregnancy to issues of self worth, this is a sin that hurts us.
The second verse we looked at was Proverbs 1:8-10, which is about listening to parents. Solomon says that a parent's instructions are so valuable they are like jewelry. He also points out that people are out there trying to entice our children to sin and that the child has a choice -- either to go along with the sinner or listen to his or her parents.
We also talked about issues like lying and cheating and being disrespectful of adults, but I think I've gone on long enough! :)

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I often see a struggle in young women, especially those who are new christians, to find their place in this world. They’re taught to have self-control, yet the world is teaching them to live their lives as they please, doing what makes them happy. The concept of submission has also been so misunderstood and is now looked upon as a weakness in women and it’s sad to see that young girls are growing up in a society that encourages them to stand strong on their own without that father/daughter relationship.
Titus 2:2-5 “Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, as so train the young women to Love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.”
When I read this verse, I can’t help but think Wow! Aren’t those virtues the ones that our culture is trying so desperately to sabotage from godly women?
Also, I think about my girls every day and how much they need to know how beautiful they are despite what others may say or believe about them. If I could instill in them that that their bodies belong to God, then I’m thinking I’ll be able to rest comfortably in the later years :-)
Psalms 139:13-15 “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately women in the depths of the earth.”
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