For teenagers surrounded by a secular world of fashion, music, movies and media, liveing out the gospel message on a daily basis can be challenging.
Jaquelle Crowe is a prime example of a teenager who is living out her faith in today’s culture. She believes that the culture desires to highjack the teen years because they realize how important they are in the formation of young adults.
“These really are the training grounds for the rest of our lives. These are the years where we are deciding what we’re going to do, what we are going to live for, and how that is going to inform how we actually live and what we do.”
Jaquelle shares advice for young Christians who are facing cultural pressures and find themselves at a turning point in their lives.
“For young people who want their lives to matter, the only way that they can do that is to use their youth and their whole lives for God’s glory.”
“We live in this digital age where temptation and sin is so easy – as easy as a click of a button. So having people who will love us enough to do the awkward or difficult task of holding us accountable is really key.”
She elaborates on the importance of accountability in a teenager’s life.
“I talk a lot about how parents need to hold their children accountable and how children should pursue that, joyfully, even though that sounds weird.”
“I know in my life, my parents have played an enormous part in keeping me accountable and I have seen how that has helped protect me from sin. Even things like making foolish decisions, that might not necessarily be sin, but that just aren’t that smart.”
“Young people, we need the people that are smarter than us to keep us from making rash, dumb decisions or from outright sinning, and that’s why we need accountability.”
In addition to accountability, Jaquelle says it’s important to focus on building Godly relationships. She touches on four main relationships that are of primary focus for teenagers: parents, siblings, friends, and relationships with the opposite gender.
“One general principle that should define all of a teen’s relationships is to become more like Christ. That should inform who we pursue relationships with, but then it should also have a massive effect on how we interact in our relationships.”
She describes what that might look for teenagers to apply this directly to each of their relationships.
“When it comes to our parents, that should involve obedience, honoring, and serving our parents. When it comes to our siblings, it should involve humility and sacrifice. When it comes to our friends, it should involve encouragement and edification. When it comes to the opposite gender, it should ultimately involve purity – a promotion and celebration of that purity.”
Living out the gospel is the calling of every Christian, regardless of age. Teenagers, despite the pressures from the world, it is possible to stand firm in your faith and live out the gospel message.
Jaquelle Crowe (BA, Thomas Edison State University) is a young writer from eastern Canada. She’s the lead writer and editor-in-chief of TheRebelution.com and a contributor to the Gospel Coalition, desiringGod.org, and Unlocking the Bible. Her first book is .
Christian teens and today's culture
