What Do You Live For?

Confession:  It wasn’t until later in my life that I realized just who I was supposed to be living for.

I have been watching the youth of America for some time.  For the most part I’m not all that impressed.  The focus that they seem to have is “Me-ism“.  I have been smacked in the face of it so many times that I physically and emotionally hurt for them.  If I look back throughout history, I’m sure I could find just when and where it started.  Do you know where?  The Garden.  That’s right.  When sin came into this world the “me-ism” started.  People looking out for themselves only.  Looking at to how they can get ahead of everyone else.  To feel as thought they are the big man/woman.  Those that are unwilling to help others no matter how small of a sacrifice it might be.  To leave their own trash around expecting others to clean up after them.  Trash in the form of bad decisions, not following through on things, not committing to something, etc…  What is even sadder is that their parents are the ones who allow this kind of behavior.  Yes I said allow.  They feel bad for their child and clean things up because they feel like their child shouldn’t have to suffer.  In the long run, the child does the same things over and over again.  Because, instead of having to learn from mistakes that they have made and figuring out how to fix them, their parents baby them.  But then wonder why they don’t respect them. One might think that parents had never heard of Tough Love.  There are those that consider tough love as no love at all.  Which couldn’t be further from the truth. Is it hard?  Well yes it’s hard, that why it’s called tough. It’s not only tough on them, but you as well. When we as parents, don’t allow our children to make mistakes and guide them through how to fix it, then as they grow and move out of the house (although I know of some who never have.  But that’s another story) then they will never be able to become a person who doesn’t live for themselves.

But there are times, when I see a youth of sorts, doing something that just melts my heart. Like holding the door open for complete strangers, helping someone who has dropped something, volunteering for a clean up crew, wanting to go visit an elderly person.  When you see them doing something for someone else and not care if they receive anything in return.  The only do it because it is the right thing to do.  They show a small spark of God’s glory. Oh how I wish we could gather the sparks together and have a blazing fire. That would be so worth writing about. There are great churches and organizations that promote how and why we should do for others, and while you do these things you slowly, but surly, start to not only do the right things in life, but you lose the me-ism.   When we start to realize that we are to live our lives for God and God alone.  That is when we truly start to live!