By Grace Sweeney.
I recently began reading the book Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris. (You may have heard me mention them before.) The whole premise of the book is that young people these days are being stifled, that they aren’t living up to their full potential because of low expectations– and that needs to change.
The world seems to think that teenagers are meant to be irresponsible and immature. Teenagers themselves have embraced that mentality. Ironically, only a century ago people between the ages of 13-19 (or around there) were considered adults. They were expected to hold down a job to help provide for their family. They were expected to do hard things and make adult decisions every day.
Our DNA hasn’t changed since then. We are still capable of doing that. We just don’t. Teens need to realize what they’re capable of, and step into their God-given abilities to change the world even while they’re young.
I think this is especially important for young women to think about. Throughout history and even in many modern cultures today, women are put down as less capable than men, unable to do anything truly important. While the Western world is filled with feminist opinions, those age-old beliefs still come out sometimes. Young women are often told they shouldn’t be anything more than mothers and wives, which isn’t fully true.
God gave women the task of being wives and mothers. That shouldn’t ever be neglected– raising up the next generation is an amazing calling. But there are many examples in Scripture where God used women (who were sometimes unmarried) in amazing ways. So I think we have a much bigger purpose than purely being wives and mothers.
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” – Ephesians 2:10
We Need to Learn to Shine Our Light
Imagine this: You’re walking through a dark valley in the middle of the night. You stumble over a large rock that lay hidden, invisible in the thick shadows. Something snatches at your sleeve, jerking you backward. Something else catches your hair, tugging it painfully. You try to spin around, straining to see through the darkness what’s trying to capture you.
You can’t see anything.
Suddenly, in the distance, there’s a faint glimmer of light. You squint, trying to tell if it’s a far-off flashlight or street light– but slowly, bit by bit, the entire sky brightens. The sun rises into the fresh morning sky, showing you every single rock you tripped on and all the brambles that were catching onto your sleeves.
Proverbs says that “…the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn.” When someone finds the path of righteousness, it’s like stepping into that gloriously bright morning. When someone is shown that path, it’s like the sun rising up over the hills to show you everything you’d been running into.
The marvelous thing is that if you’re a follower of Jesus, we can help shine that light. We can show others the path and help start the sunrise in their life.
You don’t have to be a missionary to shine Christ into others’ lives. You could bring up Jesus in a conversation with a friend, or act differently with others than regular people do. It could even be as simple as praying before eating.
We need to let Christ live out in every area of our life, and people will notice that.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” – Matthew 5:14-16
We Need to Learn to Pray
Recently, the Lord has been impressing the power of prayer on me. Honestly, I’ve been neglecting it, and underestimating it. I think modern Christians can also sorely underestimate the power of prayer.
In both the Old and New Testaments, people prayed and fasted for days. They earnestly sought the Lord. Look how many times God showed up in mighty ways for them.
More often than not, the only time I’ve remembered to spend time in prayer is at church, before mealtime, and before bed. And not to sound accusatory, but I would bet it isn’t just me who has that problem….
We should be seeking the Lord as earnestly as Jesus Himself did. Jesus went off to pray for several hours every morning before starting the day’s work. Some of us are lucky if we get five minutes in for Jesus in the mornings.
Isn’t there something wrong with that?
Focusing on prayer is an amazing way to change the world– because prayer does hold a ton of power. Prayer can reach someone across the world. Prayer is a way to connect one-on-one with the Creator of the world– which is an incredible privilege! It’s not something we should be putting off like we do so often.
“Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.” – Colossians 4:2
We Need to Learn to Do Hard Things
Come now, don’t be surprised I circled back to this… I couldn’t leave it with what I said up above.
Doing hard things is something all of us should learn to do regularly. Pushing ourselves to grow and to expand our comfort zones in order to serve the Lord and follow wherever He leads shouldn’t be something out of the ordinary. Yet, it is– especially among youth.
Hard things don’t have to be grand or impressive, though they certainly can be. Whether you start a nonprofit organization and travel around the world giving speeches, step up as a leader for something in your church, make an effort to bless someone that you wouldn’t normally reach out to, or simply try to be kinder to a sibling, you’re doing hard things.
These types of hard things bring glory to God and also push you to grow. Taking on new responsibilities and truly making an effort to change something about your lifestyle to reflect Jesus are both hard things.
Doing hard things is just that– hard. But it is worth it. Imagine if hundreds and thousands of teenagers began doing hard things for Christ. Even if they were small things… small things add up. The world would be shell-shocked. It would be like an explosion of Jesus, and the world would never be the same.
We can do hard things as young people, especially as women. We all have our own unique gifts that can and should be used for Christ.
The only question is… will you? Will you be brave enough to step out and change?
Some time ago, my good friend Timothy Hoffman wrote and shared this message:
“We need to start with confessing our sins to God. All of them. The moment we sin, we need to immediately confess. And if we have any that need to be confessed to a fellow human, that needs to happen also. Right now. We can not wait any longer. Let us strive for holiness. Fixing our eyes on Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith! Learning more about him through his word.
Let us fight for perfection. Not being perfectionists, but we need to try our hardest to do something to the best of our abilities, and when the time comes, to stop. We can’t spend years trying to perfect one thing, but we also cannot barely try to do something well! …
We will take whatever our hand finds to do, and do it as well as possible. We will become a generation that every company that is hiring will seek us out, because we will not just leave our job. We will always show up early. We will always be cheerful, and if we make a mistake we will learn. No excuses. No lost tempers.
This we will do. We will set our eyes on Christ, as we inevitably take over the world. We will deflect all glory to God. We will not give in to temptation, and if we would, we will confess it right away.
Christ will be Lord of everything in our lives. From how we do our exercises, to how we talk to our elders. We will be respectful, but if something is sinful, we will gently point it out, no matter the cost to ourselves.
This world is not ready. Something is coming. This nation is in desperate need of another great awakening!! But we can’t start with revival, nor start with telling other people that they have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We need to start with ourselves. …
So what should we do right now? If we are fired up, if we are ready to start, we need to ask God for guidance, ask him to change our lives, ask him to make something of our lives even if it isn’t quite what we would pick, and ask him for courage.
Are you willing to learn to shine your light brighter than before? Are you willing to change your habits, and pray more? Are you ready to make yourself uncomfortable in order to accomplish hard, amazing things for God?
I know I am. So let’s do it together, friend.
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” – Romans 8:31
“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” – 2 Timothy 1:7
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