Read Proverbs 6:6–11
Unless you’re living under a rock, you can’t deny the remarkable nature of our technological culture. No longer does a young man or young woman need to trek across the country, secure an expensive residence, and visit a vast university campus in a strange, faraway city in order to begin a college career. Thanks to distance learning, students can start and finish right from the comfort of their parents’ basement.
Still, young people today are finding it harder to thrive in their adulthood. The trend is to remain at home, and the tougher decisions like what career to pursue are deferred to much later in life.
Despite the younger generation’s behavior, God has designed us to work toward gaining a genuine independence from our parents, while learning total dependence on Him.
Here’s how Solomon stated it to his son:
You, lazybones, how long will you sleep?
When will you wake up?
A little extra sleep, a little more slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest—
then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit;
scarcity will attack you like an armed robber. (Proverbs 6:9–11)
I’ve watched parents hold on too tightly and not allow their adult children to strike out on their own. I’ve also watched young men and young women resist taking the necessary responsibilities that put them on a path toward independence.
God has established some helpful boundaries that govern the transition from remaining a child to becoming an adult. Studying His Word. Asking for His wisdom and direction. Listening to the instruction of your parents. And when the time is right, moving out into an independence from your parents that is marked by a dependence on the Lord.
How can you encourage your college-age children or friends to rely on the Lord as they make the transition to adulthood?
Devotional content taken from Good Morning, Lord...Can We Talk? by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2018. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries. All rights reserved.
The full devotional can be purchased at https://www.tyndale.com/p/good-morning-lord-can-we-talk/9781414380681.
