All Articles For Strength of Youth

We will find ourselves in the book of Judges for the next few articles. The period of the fifteen judges takes place after God brought Israel to Canaan, and after the death of Joshua, the successor of Moses. Time and again, two themes arise in Judges: the unfaithfulness of the covenant people, and the faithfulness of Jehovah in His covenant. Both themes will come out in the history we consider in this article. Judges is rich with lessons for us as young people. We do not have the time or space to consider all the lessons in the book, nor...

As we have been considering what it means to be a true man of God, we have examined different relationships and circumstances in which God calls Christian men to live. We have looked at sexuality and single life, dating, marriage, and family. In this article we take up a different sphere of life in which men must be men: the workplace. This is an important subject for men to consider. Women also are called to work, but typically that work is done in the sphere of the home and family. The sphere of the man is the workplace and providing...

Previous article in this series: March 15, 2020, p. 285. There you are, sitting straight up on the bed. The diagnosis was hard to hear. It is difficult even to focus as the doctor looks earnestly into your eyes. He is an honest man: your health condition, he says, is serious. But he will not dismiss you just yet. There’s a prescription! As the doctor opens his mouth to tell you about it, you hang on his every word. Last time, we, as it were, sat on the doctor’s bed and listened to the diagnosis. We heard from the Word...

Like that lingering smoke at the back door of church, a smelly stigma sticks to the Reformed, young and old alike. What are our well known indulgences? Drinking (see my previous article—March 1, 2020, p. 259) and smoking. What has generally become a socially unacceptable activity in the world seems to remain a norm in Reformed circles—a liberty to insist upon, along with orthodoxy. Therefore, though admittedly with some hesitation, I seek to unveil this altar of strange incense that few today dare to disparage.1 What is the appeal of this smoke? For beginners, peer pressure and the rebel image...

Even the world is ringing alarm bells. It seems the problem centers in the millennial generation: those born in the 1980s and 1990s. The employer in his late fifties cannot believe his ears when a twenty-something young man expects to work minimal hours for fantastic pay and benefits. The tenured professor is disturbed by the number of students in his classroom who expect royal treatment, as if he owes them everything. The veteran police officer is distressed by the rights-demanding attitude of so many youthful drivers he interacts with on traffic stops. What employers, professors, police, and others are noticing...

“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the spirit of our God. All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not...

In recent articles on what it means to be a godly man I’ve written about male sexuality (especially as it relates to single men) and how a godly man behaves in a dating relationship. This article addresses the next logical subject: the Christian man as husband. Ordinarily it is the will of God for believing men that they seek a wife and get married. Obviously, this is not the case for all men, some by choice and others because God never leads them to a spouse. The fact that they are not married does not make them less of a...

Previous article in this series: February 1, 2020, p. 210. Not all godly men will be husbands, and not all godly men will be fathers. But, ordinarily, God’s will is that a man marry and have children. He must know, then, what it means to be a faithful husband and father. The previous article in this series on biblical manhood focused on what it means to be a godly man in marriage. This article addresses how a godly man is to conduct himself as a father. I realize that you young men who are reading this are not yet fathers,...

In the years of youth, when the days are full and our energy is seemingly inexhaustible, we do not often consider that we are pilgrims on this earth. But we should. This world is not our home, but we look forward to God taking us home to Himself in heaven. December is a unique month: the old year casts its evening shadows, and the first glimmerings of the new year appear. As 2019 sets and 2020 dawns, it is appropriate that we consider Psalm 121:1–2. Psalm 121 is one of the psalms entitled “A song of de­grees.” Such a psalm was sung...

Previous article in this series: July 2019, p. 432. In the previous article in this series on biblical manhood, we looked at the calling of men with regard to their sexuality. Related is the subject of this article: the calling of Christian young men in a dating relationship. Much could be said about the subject of dating in general, but here I want to focus only on how young men are to behave in dating. The world exerts a powerful pressure upon young men with respect to how they should act in a dating relationship. The world’s idea of a...