One of the founding fathers of the United States of America (USA), George Washington has been widely regarded to have said, “The future of this nation depends on the Christian training of our youth”. It is safe to assume that the nation in question here would be the USA. George Washington realized that great nations are built by people that possess integrity of character, work ethic and selflessness. Proper Christian training moulds people who possess these characteristics and much more. It takes more than prayer and fasting to build a nation. If you want to steer your world towards a better future, you have to train the youth. Don’t give them money, train them.
These days, there is a big debate around “American decline”. American decline is the idea that the United States of America is diminishing in power. The USA is no longer the worldwide moral and spiritual force it used to be. They still have their military might, which keeps the entire house from crashing down, but something is amiss. This is not about hating the USA, the data speaks for itself. Gun violence and school shooting problem in America is so bad, that many now refer to it as an epidemic. We all understand that guns don’t kill people, people kill people. We can speculate that having more people trained the Christian way would have helped that nation.
As it is written in the Book of Proverbs, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34 ESV). Any watchman or nation builder worth their salt must understand the role of training young people to follow a path that promotes righteousness, mercy and justice. Your world does not have a future if you ignore the command of Jesus to make disciples. Enough with the thrill seeking, miracle seeking funfair. It is time to settle down for proper training and discipleship. The future of your world will depend on your ability to disciple and train young people in the Christian faith.
