WHAT IS THE VALUE OF A YOUNG PERSON'S LIFE?

Too many young people are inmates.

As a Youth Director, one of the last places you would like to be is in Federal Court. There were approximately 15 young people led into court shackled in handcuffs with a chain wrapped around their back. Most were connected on conspiracy charges allegedly committed over a 12 year period. Some of these young people are only 22 years old. That means that they started their alleged life of crime when they were approximately 10 yrs old. The Prosecutor noted that in a similar case, an 8 yr old was selling drugs. 

I know that the job of a Prosecutor is to uphold the law and convict people. I feel bad that the rest of us have not done a good enough job of providing opportunities for these young people to lead law abiding lives. The courthouse we sat in supposedly cost over 164 million dollars. Do you know how many youth programs we could operate with a fraction of that?

What is the value of a young person's life? I won't find that value by searching in my own resentment. That would be like wallowing in my own self righteousness. I cannot stand up in court and yell: "This is unfair! Let these children go!" That may have worked for Moses when he spoke to Pharaoh, but God works differently in each new season. I need words of wisdom to give to the young people on both sides of the prison doors. It's easy to find shelter in the belief that says: "This happened because it's the will of God." It's an act of sweating spiritual bullets to put that belief into practice.

A cold heart can be a cause or an effect of a cold cell.

"You will be in jail until you figure out what God wants you to learn from your circumstances." That's what I told one young man who was among the accused. I also told him that we would be spinning our mental wheels by moaning about unfairness in the world. Let's focus on God's will. The greatest shapers of our world are those who have experienced the harshest adversity. Embracing brokenness is a thought from the mind of Christ. The will of God often seems antithetical to the desires of man. 

Would man choose to break down his muscle to make himself stronger?
Would man choose to create a tree that will lose it's leaves, appear dead and bud again?
Would man choose to break ground, let go of the seed and hope for growth? 
Would man choose to create a diamond from something that makes his life hard?
Would man choose to create a pearl from something that irritates him?
Would man choose to create a cocoon of struggle that will help give him freedom?

The Bible is a textbook that explains the will of God. Here is a passage from Romans 12:2 from both the King James Bible and The Message:

Romans 12:2

King James Version

² And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Romans 12:2

The Message

Place Your Life Before God

12 ^1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

 You can know the will of God if you seek it.

I saw this sign on a lonely country road

as I drove home from a jail house visit.

Jesus is the only answer.

Today's Wise Saying is from Proverbs 24:5-6.

Proverbs 24:7

New International Version (NIV)

Saying 23

⁷ Wisdom is too high for fools;
    in the assembly at the gate they must not open their mouths.

Proverbs 24:7

The Message (MSG)

22

⁷ Wise conversation is way over the head of fools;
    in a serious discussion they haven’t a clue.

Proverbs 24:7

Amplified Bible (AMP)

⁷ Wisdom is too high for a ^[a]fool; he opens not his mouth in the gate [where the city’s rulers sit in judgment].

Proverbs 24:7

King James Version (KJV)

⁷ Wisdom is too high for a fool: he openeth not his mouth in the gate.

Heart-Storming Challenge:

• How do you deal with unfairness in life?
• What does the "Will of God" mean to you?
• How can you have the "Mind of Christ?"
• Do you have a plan to read the Bible consistently?

Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.

Jesus loves you and so do we.