Prepare Your Teen for the Moral Challenges Associated with College

The following is a transcribed Video Q&A, so the text may not read like an edited article would. Scroll to the bottom to view this video in its entirety.  

Often a teen thinks all these sinful things my parents don’t want me to do are the things that will make me happy. Sometimes parents, well intended, say “they won’t make you happy. They are all bad for you. They are all terrible.” The answer really needs to be more nuanced than that. A parent needs to acknowledge to a teen that something like premarital sex will bring an immediate pleasure, but here is the consequence. Here is the payment that will come later. And here is what God says about it and the reason God says this is because he wants you to be happy.

God wants us to be happy and we will find our best happiness when we live the way he made us to live. The God who made my body knows how my body ought to function. The God who made alcohol knows the place of alcohol. The God who made work knows the place of work. We are happiest when we live the way that God designed us to live. So, when we are faced with moral temptations (whether sex or alcohol, those were the big ones in college) understand that it is not a matter of God not wanting you to be happy.

It isn’t a matter of God saying, “That will make you happy, I don’t want you happy. I want you miserable, so keep away from those things”. It is not that at all. Those things would bring a short-term immediate thrill but much pain and heartache comes later and God knows that and you don’t have to do that to learn it. You can just trust God. He has revealed Himself in His Word as trustworthy. You can look at human testimonies out there that will help you know. Yes, those things might have made somebody happy for a short time. But they are empty, there is heart break, and there is all kinds of pain that comes with it like interruption in a relationship with God. Sin brings a breach between us and God and prevents us from having fellowship with Him. It hurts your relationship with other people. Pre-marital sex and drunkenness lead to nothing but long-term problems. And God know that and wants you to be fulfilled and happy which is why he has prohibitions. He wants to keep you from things that will hurt you and keep you from enjoying the things that are the best pleasures. 

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