I was a junior in High School when my aging English teacher stood before my class and announced with no irony: “I feel sorry for you kids…I would never want to be your age again.” We sat speechless, thinking all the while: “ Are you kidding? Look at you, you’re old and grey and we’re young and vibrant with the world at our finger tips! We should be feeling sorry for you.””
Of course, she knew something that we would soon find out. Teenagers are clueless! Aside from the physical benefits (which are typically wasted on worthless pursuits) there really is no advantage to youth. Young people, as a rule, are immature, easily misguided and deluded to such an extent that when we are young, we perpetually set ourselves up for misery. This is precisely why our parents worry so much and pray and long for the day when we will finally grow up.
The Apostle Paul sounds an eerily familiar alarm:
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