A Message to Teens - Devotion on Matthew 6:22

The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. -Matthew 6:22

I love the teens in our church.  I find myself praying for them a lot.  The teen ministry in our church has a spot dear to my heart because I was saved as a teen through the teen ministry in my church.  I can't imagine where I would be now if it weren't for our teen leader that had a burden for me and my friends when we were growing up.  Looking back on my life growing up, though, I see where I walked and I know what a challenge it was for me growing up with no spiritual leadership outside of the church.  I didn't know how to walk.  It's like the baby that gets carried around so much that his development is hindered because he never learns to walk on his own.  It took me 14 years before I learned to walk on my own - 14 years that could have been spent serving the Lord and growing in Him.  There's so much I wish I could share with the teens so they don't have to walk the undirected path that I did, constantly straying from God's way and causing much consternation in my life.  If I could only say one thing to them, it would be this:  focus on God first in your life.  Have a singular focus.  Don't get caught up in the way the world tells us we should go.  Don't get distracted by the temporal things, the popularity issues, the soap opera garbage, the need for newest and coolest toy.  Focus on eternal matters.  When your eye is focused on God, you're life will be filled with light.  It's easier to see in a bright light, right?  You'll see more clearly where you should walk.  You'll see more clearly the sin in your life that needs to be purged.  You'll see God's love more clearly.  I would tell them to focus on God's light.