Who Will You Trust?
As a grandpa to four Gen Zers, I feel compelled to share some life-changing truth you may not have heard yet. It is truth that can help young people make a wise choice as to who you will trust.
Every generation is uniquely different, yet individuals from each generation are faced with the same question, who will I trust? Will I trust in myself and value what the culture around me tells me to value? Or will I trust the God who loves me, and longs for me to trust Him and love Him?
My dad died when I was nine years old. Without sharing a long story, suffice it to say that after my dad passed, I didn’t trust anyone, except myself. I hid any fears and insecurities I had and tried to be someone I was not.
I remember when I was your age and all the poor choices I made during my high school and college years. Later in life, I experienced the consequences of ignoring God and the heartache that follows. Many of you are now vulnerable and at risk of falling into that same trap, depending upon whom you choose to trust.
Thankfully, I eventually sought answers from God and His truth set me free. I was able to transfer my trust from myself to trust in God and His Word, the Bible. It’s very encouraging to hear that many in your generation are doing the same thing.
An Awakening!
There is an awakening taking place in America. Gen Zers are realizing their need for God and turning to the Bible for answers to life’s challenges. God is showing you that conformity to this world is a dead-end street. He wants you to know that life worth living comes by knowing and trusting the God who created you and loves you.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2, NKJV)
You may not realize it, but there is a spiritual battle taking place within your mind. The god of this world (the devil) is at work deceiving you into valuing all this world has to offer during your life on earth. In opposition to lies and deceit, the one true God of the Bible offers you truth. He shares the truth of His love for you. He offers you truth about how to experience peace and joy in this life and for all eternity, if you will only trust Him.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:12, NIV)
To ignore this spiritual battle is to ignore God. The devil welcomes such complacency. He will do what he can to keep you from God’s truth and from the security that truth provides. Instead, the enemy encourages you to dwell on sinful thoughts. He persuades you into having self-centered motives. He tempts you into valuing what this world has to offer, above all else. His goal is to destroy your life by making what is bad look good.
Know Your Enemy
Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. (2 Corinthians 4:4, NLT)
And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world…. (Revelation 12:9, ESV)
The thief (the devil) comes only to steal and kill and destroy. (John 10:10, ESV)
Warning
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. (1 John 2:15-17, NIV)
- The lust of the flesh – physical pleasures we want
- The lust of the eyes – aesthetic and intellectual pleasures we want
- The pride of life – pride in what we have (our achievements and possessions)
The key word in the above Scripture is love. We are not to love any pleasure, achievement, or possession more than we love God. Here’s some insight into how serious this is to God:
You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:4, ESV)
That’s serious! Why? Does God want to withhold pleasure, achievement, and possessions from us? Absolutely not! Jesus said He came that we may have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:10). The big difference comes in how we attain them. Do we do so in ways that are honoring to God, or do we pursue them in any way we choose to? After having attained them, are we humbly grateful and give God the glory for such blessings? Or do we pridefully forget God, thinking we are entitled to receive them and capable of getting what we want on our own? The following quote provides awareness of God’s concern:
There can only be two basic loves, the love of God unto the forgetfulness of self, or the love of self unto the forgetfulness of God. —Augustine
Worldliness vs. Godliness (3 examples) – Do not be conformed to this world. (Rom. 12:2)
1. Conformity to this world leads to self-centeredness.
For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 2:21, ESV)
Being transformed by the Bible leads to becoming other-minded.
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:3-4, NIV)
2. Worldliness leads to placing hope and trust in money.
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. (Matthew 6:24, NIV)
Godliness places hope and trust in a trustworthy God and uses money to glorify God.
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. (1 Timothy 6:17-19, NIV)
3. Conformity to this world leads to embracing sexual immorality.
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Therefore, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie… (Romans 1:21, 24-25, NIV)
Godliness honors what God says about marriage and sexual intimacy.
Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24, NKJV)
But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. (1 Corinthians 7:2, NIV)
The devil hates purity. He loves perversion and depravity. He delights in convincing young people that it’s okay to have sex before you are married. He is pleased with unwanted pregnancies, abortion, and venereal diseases. He hates healthy marriages between a man and his wife. He loves adultery, divorce, and the pain it causes.
How to Renew Your Mind – Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. (Rom. 12:2)
1. Believe the Bible contains trustworthy truth from the only true God. Embrace it as guidance and direction for your life. Let it teach you right from wrong.
Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. (Proverbs 30:5, ESV)
2. Decide. Which do you want more, what the world has to offer, or what God has to offer?
Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. (Matthew 7:13-14, ESV)
3. Humbly acknowledge your need for a Savior, turn from sin, and place your faith in Jesus.
Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. (Acts 3:19, NLT)
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16, NIV)
4. Begin a life of getting to know and trust the God who created you and loves you, and Jesus who gave His life for you.
Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (John 17:3, NIV)
5. Spend time meditating on God’s Word to replace worldly thinking with godly thinking.
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:22-24, NIV)
6. Cling to verses like the following to have unwavering faith and trust in Jesus.
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. (Isaiah 26:3-4, ESV)
The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.” (Psalm 32:8, NLT)
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13, NIV)
I pray that your trust in Jesus will grow stronger day by day. And I hope you will encourage other Gen Zers to join in the awakening of your generation. May many more come to know and trust the only trustworthy God.
This article can be found on the website of our ministry, Christlike Dialogue. Here are two additional articles that may be of interest: The Biblical Jesus Offers Hope and Who is Jesus? How to Have Eternal Life