So Soon

Put to death whatever in you is worldly: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.

Colossians 3:5

In the devotional today, the writer tells a story about a woman named Alice who was devasted when she heard the news that her 17-year-old son's girlfriend was pregnant. But was more devastated when her son, Dylan, told his parents that his girlfriend, Tara, was going to have an abortion. "I tried to talk her out of it, I told her I would help her support the baby, if she would keep it." Dylan told his parents as tears spilled down his cheeks. Even though Dylan pleaded repeatedly with Tara, she had made up her mind. Tara was college bound in the fall, and she and her parents didn't want the "inconvenience" of a teenage pregnancy. The writer says that eventually, Dylan and Tara's relationship couldn't survive the stress, and they stopped seeing each other.

The writer goes on to say that we have seen a dramatic shift in the American culture over the last 60 years. She talks about how the sexual revolution brought a growing acceptance of pregnant single women.

The media and our culture have made being pregnant and single glamorous. They have also convinced young people that abortion is acceptable. Abortion has become a form of birth control for some, an easy fix to what they see as an inconvenience. However, abortion leaves a scar that will stay with this young woman for the rest of her life.

With the young people in our youth group, and once my kids reach the appropriate age, I believe in educating them about relationships and sex. The world is such a different place now, and they are bombarded with subliminal messages from the world daily. We plan on not only teaching about relationships, and sex, but I hope that we can stress to our youth what God has to say about the subject also, and how it is a wonderful gift, that God intended for a husband and his wife.

Steps of Faith:
Father, please help those who face unplanned pregnancies. Give them Your wisdom and the strength to do the right thing. Lead them to people and resources who can help meet their needs while providing godly counsel and encouragement.

Deeper Walk:
Romans 13:8-14 NAS

Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another: for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, "YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTRY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET," and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nerer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.