We celebrate our youth by being curious and compassionate instead of being judgmental. Read Matthew 7:1-5. Jesus was very clear about not judging other people, but we seem to forget Jesus’ teaching as we readily give our opinions about today’s youth. “Young people today” is normally said with a huff and precedes some complaint about young people today. We are quick to categorize young people as lazy, disrespectful, or lacking common sense. When a student driver is going too slow in front of us, we are impatient. When a teenage cashier has trouble counting out change, we are displeased with their skill level. When young people are loud and obnoxious at a restaurant, we dismiss them as being rude. What if we took a different approach? What if we applied patience to the driver, compassion to the cashier, and curiosity to the loud teens at the restaurant? There is more to not judging people than not judging. We must replace our judgment with something else. Not judging is changing our attitude and approach to young people with a positive view. Instead of saying “young people today are … (fill in negative description), say, “Young people are awesome!” Let’s give them grace to be immature as they try to navigate a world that would be completely foreign to us. Let’s encourage youth by complimenting them and pointing out their strengths. Let’s invest our time and energy into our youth to show them we care about them. Let’s be Christlike models for our youth and include them. We were very blessed this past Sunday to be led by our youth group. Let’s pray for our young people who are trying to be like Jesus themselves.

Prayer: God of all ages, we ask that you bless our youth. Help us to surround our youth with love, compassion, and grace. Give us the strength we need today, and help us be more like you as we set an example for our youth today. Amen.