“Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.” (Proverbs 23:22)
These words from Proverbs have no doubt been an aching reality in many parents’ souls. After all, the infamous “rebellious teenager” is known for disregarding his father’s or mother’s hard fought wisdom.
Yet who is the real “rebellious teenager” in our world today? After all, God is the one who has given the entire world life – yet he is disregarded or despised by many. The idea that he is indeed our authority is at best a debated point, and more generally rejected outright as unfit for public discussion. The Bible is indeed in the basement. What hope is present for teens today if adults cannot muster up a little respect for the God and Father of us all?
The book of Proverbs is a handbook for wisdom and ethics, and on every page the message presents itself: listen to the wisdom of those around you, resist the wickedness offered by others. Wisdom and wickedness are both personal – rather than impersonal – matters. They involve how we treat others, and they are developed through how we interact with others. But it begins with how we relate to God – his wisdom, instruction, and especially his gospel.
The stakes are high on Teen Planet. If we act like rebellious teenagers in the presence of God, so will the next generation. But if we will listen attentively to God through his word – without rolling our eyes - there is hope.
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But since we receive remission of sins and the Holy Ghost by faith alone, faith alone justifies, because those reconciled are accounted righteous and children of God, not on account of their own purity, but through mercy for Christ's sake, provided only they by faith apprehend this mercy. Accordingly, Scripture testifies that by faith we are accounted righteous, Rom. 3, 26. We, therefore, will add testimonies which clearly declare that faith is that very righteousness by which we are accounted righteous before God, namely, not because it is a work that is in itself worthy, but because it receives the promise by which God has promised that for Christ's sake He wishes to be propitious to those believing in Him, or because He knows that Christ of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, 1 Cor. 1, 30.
Book Of Concord 1580
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