WHO IS A TEENAGER???

    A teenager, according to the oxford advanced learners dictionary, is a person who is between the age of 13 to 19 years and during this period, the individual, if not checked, can go out of control.

Teenagers and peers:

    Among peers, teenagers tend to relate well and if this company is not a godly company then the teenager may be forced to compromise if his/her foundation isn’t built on the rock. Evil communication corrupts good manners is a very popular and wise saying and it is being played in the lives of many teenagers in the society and nation at large. We can’t rule out the fact that we live in a wicked world where they are not after the bad ones but after the good ones, i.e., “the fresh fishes” and the easy targets are mostly teenagers because they know that once they put a little pressure on them, anything can happen between the age of 13 to 19; destines of many teenagers can be wrecked, virginities of many can be lost, criminals can be bred, all these can happen under seven years with just an “advice” from their peers. That is why teenagers, born into a Christian home, from the moment they are brought into the world to the moment they clock 13, should be trained and brought up in the fear of the lord.

Teenagers and society:   

    Going further, i can make bold to say that the society we live in have higher influence on teenagers than even their peers. How? A society refers to people in general, living together in communities. And as we all know, people differs. We have the rich, poor, classy, elites, area boys, the sought-afters, the babes, dudes and all kinds of people who come together to make up the society. All these sets of people can influence the life of a teenager, how they dress, talk, walk, their carriage and the way they relate with people whether negatively or positively. Compared to the peers, the society need not say a word in form of persuasion to the teenager but the fact that they are in the same community with the teenager, whatever they do is being monitored by the teenagers. I mean, who wouldn’t love to be the center of attraction? Who wouldn’t want to be loved by all? Who wouldn’t love to be noticed when they enter a room or gathering? Who doesn’t like the feeling they get when all eyes are on you admiring your cloth, bag, shoes, belt, wrist watch, shades or even your hairdo or hair cut? Attention is what the society offers and Attention is what most teenagers want but let me shock you, this kind of attention don’t last for a long time. Fine, you will be the “hottest babe of the week” or “gorgeous dude of the week” but after a week, their attention will be shifted to another “fresh fish” which will also last for a week and on and on the attention goes and by then you will be an “ex fashionista” or an “ex queen of campus”. Now the question is, where does it profit?

Teenagers and the church:   

    The church, to most people, is a place of worship but the church to 95% of teenagers in Nigeria is a runway where they come to showcase their latest shoes, clothes, bags and what have you. The connection that suppose to ensure with God is hereby lost because they only came to church for a fashion show and hence they come late to church hoping to do what i call “grand entrance” so that all eyes and attention will be shifted away from the pastor to their shoes or bag or outfit and oh, they always take the front seat. As you know, 95% of members in church that day will be distracted and the link between them and God will be lost and they won’t gain anything for that day. The church is a place of worship and it is a place where acts 2:17 work hand in hand with all the members of the church including the teenagers. That scripture carried everybody including teenagers “and it shall come to pass in the last days, saith the Lord, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams” there is a place for teenagers in the church and without them, the work of God and also the church cannot move forward. Once a teenager deviates, there won’t be peace in the church because they also need prophesy in the church as much as they need visions and dreams.

Teenagers and family: 

  Also, the family plays a huge role in the life of a teenager. The life a teenager portrays shows the kind of family he/she comes from. For God have given the family a mandate to serve as caretakers and to direct, counsel and teach these teenagers the way of the lord from when they are babies to when they reach the age of accountability, but what do we see in our society, some parents don’t care to take note of what their teenage daughter or son is wearing, who they relate with and where they go to but instead, they are concerned with how many likes they get from a picture they posted on Instagram or who did not accept their friend request on Facebook or who unfollowed them on Twitter or who didn’t add them to their connection on Linked in or who deleted them from their contact on BBM. And by doing this, these teenagers pick up these things from them and trust them to even over-do most of these things. Once a teenager deviates, all eyes goes to the family and all ears want to hear who his or her parents are. The family serves as a big concrete on which the destiny of the teenager stands. A teenager that comes from a divided or broken home isn’t going to grow up as a perfect individual. He or she will greatly be affected by this factor. 

 A teenager isn't just  that girl who always want to hang out with her male friends or that guy who tries to woo a girl but a teenager is that special individual like you and me who have untapped potentials, vibes and ginger and can be a world changer at any given time and opportunity.