Young Believers Need Courage to Stand Alone

Question: What are your greatest fears for young believers in our generation?

Clint: One of my greatest fears for young believers in this day and age is that they will succumb to peer pressure. They won't stand alone. It's hard to stand alone, whether it's on the job, whether it's your companions in some club or some organization you're a part of. Being willing to stand alone - that takes a certain amount of character. You know, the hard times we go through are designed in the providence of God to mold us and to develop character in us. In this day and age, the younger generation, I think they haven't faced that in a general way like the older generation did. Those that lived through depressions; those that lived through world wars; those that grew up with difficulties - you don't have to go back but maybe a generation or two and you find that they suffered hardship and they were able to stand alone. They were tougher. They were more gritty that way. I think that helps. I think that's good. In the way of discipline, you know, we might be disciplined - we tend to think of discipline as spanking your children. There's an infraction, there's a rebellion. And you take them off to the side and you give them a spanking. And we tend to view discipline in the Bible that way. But there's another form of discipline that is simply hardship brought into the life of a person to develop their character. You've got it in Romans 5. Proven character comes as a result of tribulation. And so God does that lovingly for a believer. He doesn't do that for the worldly man. That man might face difficulty as a consequence of his sin or his life choices or whatever, but God's not involved in that. It's the similar situation to a parent being in a Walmart with their child. Their child acts up. They discipline their child. Over here is another child acting up. They don't discipline that child. They might want to. They might want to do that, but they don't have anything to do with that child. It's the same way with God in the life of a believer. You know, He disciplines His child through tribulations, develops their character, fashions them for what He wants them to do. But He's not concerned about the worldly man that way. For him it's judgment; for him it's wrath; for him it's consequential. But for young people, I fear for them when they're not able to stand on their own; when they're not able to say to the world this is me - like it or leave it. This is the way I am. Take me how I am or not. And stand against those things. The world is becoming so militant in its sin. The alternative lifestyles and the far left liberalism is very militant in our country nowadays. And if you're a Christian, to stand against that you've got to be able to have courage and stand up against those pressures. You can select another part of this interview below, or if you're listening, you can find the rest of the interview on illbehonest.com or our mobile app.