I could bash you over the head all day long with statistics about teens and sex but the truth is those are just numbers. If this section is doing its job then you, the reader, are in fact a teenager. So why should I tell you what’s going on when you can simply look around you? You know better than any MSNBC or CNN pole just exactly what kids in these formative years are doing when their parents aren’t around. It’s the whole spirit of being a teenager! You feel invincible, like you’ve seen it all and you are far more knowledgeable than your parents who “probably didn’t face the same things I do”. To a degree, that last statement is true. A simple fact is that our parents didn’t grow up with the internet, a tool that has made it easier than ever to fall into sexual sin in mere seconds. Teenagers spend the most time out of anyone in the family on the internet both at home and at school, “doing homework”, playing games and socializing in a large fake unrealistic world where anything is at your fingertips for your little peepers to grab hold of, download and have in your memory bank probably forever. You’re young, don’t entertain the beginning stages of an addiction now when you know what you’re up against in the future.
I remember the first time I heard of someone my age having sex. In seventh grade a friend (ironically named BJ) told me that as a mere fifth grader he had “gone all the way” with his girlfriend while at youth group. Whether his story was true, embellished or a flat out lie, I’ll never forget the shock and embarrassment I felt. Fifth grade! While I was on the playground playing Power Rangers, he was getting real action! Now fast forward to your teen years when your hormones are raging for real, you have to have that deodorant talk with your Dad and strange things are happening internally whenever a girl enters your vicinity. It’s almost like we’re set up for failure in our teen years. There are endless parties with minimal adult supervision, constant peer pressure to have a girlfriend, or at least have a girl pay attention to you and almost every topic of conversation revolves around the opposite sex. It really can’t be avoided.
The ironically cool thing about being a teenager is that not much is expected of you. Most of society will forever see teenagers as ungrateful degenerates, not yet adults, but trapped in a limbo of self doubt and self discovery, usually masked by a bad attitude and loud music. What’s great about that is that YOU have a chance to reverse the stereotype, perhaps not for your entire generation, but at least for yourself, and maybe that’s enough. Now to the point, kids want what they can’t have and adults still wish they were carefree kids. So as kids/teenagers, of course you’re going to want sex, anyway you can get it, whether that be online or in real life. You’re not supposed to do it, you really really want to, all the components are there for complete failure. But let me tell you this for starters, having any kind of “sex life” online is a joke. It’s not something you would brag to your friends about or you’d ever want to be public. Secondly, as far as a real sex life goes, are you really prepared to possibly be a Daddy or Mommy at 14 years old? Think about that for a second…There are so many factors that I didn’t think about when I was younger and now that I’m an adult I couldn’t be more thankful that I steered clear of that temptation with my high school sweetheart(s). It had so much potential to destroy my beautiful life today. It is absolutely possible to steer your hormonal focus away from sexual sin. I know, I know, it’s harder for you guys than it ever was for your parents. Porn, sex, lust-it’s more ubiquitous now than ever before. But how cool would it be to be a part of a generation who took a stand against it? I used to think this verse was a bit cheesy and only used to make kids feel guilty for misbehaving but as an adult looking back at my younger years, its something I should have taken to heart:
“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for believers in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity” -1 Timothy 4:12
How incredible to be a teenager in this day and age where temptation is literally everywhere you turn/click, to set your sights on something higher, to be an example to those around you. Do something unexpected, do something ironic, and run from it!