INSIGHT #17

Insight #17: Start preparing for your future now

This week, we’ll be discussing something that’s ignored quite often, which is “preparation for the future”. I assume that by now, most of us already know what we’ll like to be later on in life, doctors, engineers, lawyers, e.t.c. As good as they sound; ambitions aren’t what we’re discussing today.

You might be wondering what exactly I’m talking about and I’ll tell you; what I mean by preparing for the future is preparation in a general sense, which entails all aspects of our future; every responsibility we’ll be expected to pick up at various points in the future. Such as parenthood, marriage, responsibilities in our future workplaces and church.

The mistake most teens make is that of a mindset of procrastination. Note that this is different from the actual act of procrastinating in that the “mindset of procrastination” in this case is thinking in a way that deceives you into believing that when the time comes, you’ll suddenly be responsible enough to fill those roles. LIES, all LIES. Consider this example of a guy who’s exams are coming up in 3 months, if he doesn’t prepare for it adequately(involving prayer as well), He’ll fail beautifully and extensively, He might keep telling himself, “I’ll read later, at least I still have 3months till my exams”. With this sort of mindset, he’ll never be ready when his exams come around.

God gave all of us the same amount of hours in day; 24. It’s up to us to spend it as effectively as possible. It is also very important to note that this period of time (teenage years) that God has given us, was given to us in order to prepare fervently for our great futures. Lets see what the bible has to say in the book of Proverbs;

Proverbs 6:6-11 (New Living Translation)

⁶ Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise!
⁷ Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work,
⁸ they labour hard all summer, gathering food for the winter.
⁹ But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up?
¹⁰ A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—
¹¹ then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.

This can be applied to what we’re talking about, because here God shows us the danger of not preparing for our future and playing with our present. This danger is that of poverty, regret and a life of disappointment.

Now, let’s quickly take a look at the steps we can take in order to prepare for where God’s taking us.

(i) Develop Healthy habits

This is a very important point which you need to take note of because your habits will ultimately determine how successful you’ll turn out to be later on in life. Healthy habits range from Spiritual ones to physical ones. Here’s a list of some and how to go about them;

· Strong Spiritual life: You develop this by making the effort to spend time with God on a regular basis, in prayer, reading the word and active participation in church activities.

· Evangelism: Don’t forget that every Christian, no matter your profession is an evangelist. So make sure you develop the habit of sharing the gospel with at least one person a week. You can’t go wrong this way!!

Unfortunately, that’s all we can discuss this week, join us next week as we look at more habits we need to develop and those we need to get rid of. Don’t forget to be a DOER and not just a hearer of these things you’ve learnt today and start taking yourself seriously. GOD BLESS YOU.

PRAYER; Lord, Help me to take myself seriously and to develop healthy spiritual and physical habits that will prepare me for the great future you have for me. In Jesus name. Amen.

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