If today’s teens are going to decide to save sex for marriage they will need strong reasons for doing so. In some parts of the world they will be going against a culture in which teen sexual activity is the norm. That is difficult for teens. In other areas, although sex before marriage is strictly forbidden, many are rebelling against this restriction and having sex anyway.
There are many reasons why sex should be saved for marriage — physical, mental, emotional, and relational — and these reasons are often intertwined. I’ve written about some of them in earlier posts.
Present sexual behavior can also affect future career goals. How? Can we challenge teens to think about this?
One youth leader in South America had tremendous faith in the potential of the young people with whom he was working, in spite of their circumstances. They were poor, and came from families with little education. He gathered these young people together for a “Dreaming” weekend — to dream about the future, what they would like to do with their lives.
In Turkey a few weeks ago I asked a group of teens from Iran about their goals for the future. These teens and their families are refugees in Turkey, waiting for assignment by the United Nations to another country. In the meantime they are living in limbo, so I didn’t know if they would have goals. They do! Almost all of these teens had an immediate response: I want to be . . . a pilot . . . a doctor . . . a pastor . . . a robotic engineer . . . I was very impressed!
How could their sexual behavior help – or hinder – the achievement of their career goals?
Since the brain is more malleable in the teen years than it ever has been or ever will be again, what teens learn and experience in these years actually physically changes their brain. So this is a time to focus on the development of skills and attitudes that will help them in whatever career they choose. Sexual intimacy can cause them to lose this focus. An unintended pregnancy can disrupt educational plans.
God has given every one of your teenagers interests and abilities to make a living and to serve him, just as he filled Bezelel with knowledge and skills to “to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts” necessary for building the tent of meeting in the wilderness (Exodus 31:1-6). Reassure your teens that their sexual desires are a good gift from God, but that right now they need to postpone sexual intimacy in order to pursue their career goal — not just for themselves but so that they can develop the gifts God has given them to serve him and others.
