The advice you give is very encouraging and as a young man, it is helpful. My question is that being a young Christian man, it is very challenging to walk the Christian life. Having friends in the world and being associated with a female in a denomination, it is difficult to keep focused. I question sometimes why the things I wish for most (marriage, children and family home) are hard to come by as I see others receiving these things. I see the struggles of Christian members in my church dealing with trials and family troubles. I see members giving up and allowing Satan to overcome them, which at times I can sympathize with. I realize that the road is hard but at times it can wear on you. What advice can you give to help me keep focus?<\/p>\n\t
There is a Psalm devoted to the very issue that you raise — Psalm 73:<\/p>\n
“Truly God is good to Israel, to such as are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pangs in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride serves as their necklace; violence covers them like a garment. Their eyes bulge with abundance; they have more than heart could wish. They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression; they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walks through the earth. Therefore his people return here, and waters of a full cup are drained by them. And they say, “How does God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?” Behold, these are the ungodly, who are always at ease; they increase in riches. Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long I have been plagued, and chastened every morning. If I had said, “I will speak thus,” behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of Your children. When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me – until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end. Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awakes, so, Lord, when You awake, You shall despise their image. Thus my heart was grieved, and I was vexed in my mind. I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. Nevertheless I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish; You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry. But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all Your works<\/em>” (Psalms 73:1-28).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
No one claims that being a Christian takes no effort. What is stated is that the reward of Heaven at the end is so valuable that all our difficulties are at most minor annoyances in comparison. “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal<\/em>” (II Corinthians 4:16-18).<\/p>\n
You chose where to place your eyes. Does it make sense to focus on worldly things when there are far greater spiritual things to see? Don’t compromise what you know to be right. Put God first and He will take care of the rest. “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you<\/em>” (Matthew 6:31-33).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: The advice you give is very encouraging and as a young man, it is helpful. My question is that being a young Christian man, it is very challenging to walk the Christian life. Having friends in the world and being associated with a female in a denomination, it is difficult to keep focused. I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[515,182,188],"class_list":["post-5915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-priorities","tag-suffering","tag-trials"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36067,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-i-have-to-have-my-abusive-step-father-in-my-life-and-in-my-daughters-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":5915,"position":0},"title":"Do I have to have my abusive step-father in my life and in my daughter’s life?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I hope you can give me some good advice. I am a father of a young girl. My mom divorced my stepdad when I was a young teenager. He gave all of us a pretty hard life, my mom, my brothers, and sisters who are his kids. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38620,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/we-havent-done-anything-really-bad-so-why-are-our-lives-so-difficult\/","url_meta":{"origin":5915,"position":1},"title":"We haven’t done anything really bad, so why are our lives so difficult?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi there, I hope you are doing fine. I am only 19. I'm married, my husband is 20. Neither of us has done anything really really bad in our lives, but yet we are suffering like we are the worse people on earth. Of course, we have sinned, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30282,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/thank-you-so-much-for-your-help-and-advice\/","url_meta":{"origin":5915,"position":2},"title":"Thank you so much for your help and advice","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 21, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Thank you so much for your help and advice.\u00a0 I know I haven't met you in person, but I feel much trust in you for the help you've provided to me.\u00a0 So much praise for your site.\u00a0 With the Internet being the way it is, it's hard to find\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13541,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-i-get-some-advice-from-you\/","url_meta":{"origin":5915,"position":3},"title":"Can I get some advice from you?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am dealing with some things in my life and I don't know what to do. Your web site popped up and I read one of the articles which hit my situation precisely. My situation is a little different, but I really don't know where to turn. I am\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5081,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-a-congregation-stay-focused\/","url_meta":{"origin":5915,"position":4},"title":"How can a congregation stay focused?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 1, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I attend a small church of Christ which is faced with challenges, such as members leaving to go to other churches, brethren falling away because of their selfish ambitions, and family issues. The reason I bring it up is that we have so much potential to grow as we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9571,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-have-advice-for-a-young-christian-going-into-military-service\/","url_meta":{"origin":5915,"position":5},"title":"Do you have advice for a young Christian going into military service?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 26, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have two nephews who have enlisted. One in the Marines, and one in the Navy. The one who is going to the Navy has struggled as a Christian for a very long time. He is easily swayed; he is a follower and gives in easily to peer pressure.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5915\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}