The Hunger Games

I was reading a Christian movie review of the Hunger Games this morning. These books are very popular with our middle school and freshmen girls. This reviewer kept mentioning over and over again how the premise of the movie was children killing children just to survive. As I have not yet read the books or seen the movie, I cannot comment on the moral of them, nor is that my intent here. This idea of children being forced to fight to survive actually struck me in quite a different way.
 My prayer partner shared with me today some of what her pastor had taught in a recent sermon. I don't recall the Biblical reference at this moment (perhaps she'll post it in the comment section when she reads this) that anytime a young person obeys God he crushes the head of Satan. That of course, got me to thinking about the faithfulness of my sophomores and what an encouragement that will be for them. I then read this review about the Hunger Games and had the thought that our saved kids really are fighting for their spiritual lives. We don't often think of them as warriors in the fight against Satan, but that is exactly what they are. They have been chosen, not by a government, but by God to fight on the front lines in His war against evil. If they want to survive spiritually and be used of God, they must put on the Eph. 6 armour and fight. They must make the choice in a world filled with pressure to conform, to crush the head of Satan through their obedience. As an adult, this is often a frightening and difficult thing to do, as a teen it must seem an impossible thing to do.
As a youth worker, it is often too easy to see where the teens are making mistakes,instead of seeing where they are being obedient, where they are making choices for God, where they are fighting for their spiritual lives and crushing the head of Satan. In so many ways, their fight for spiritual survival is so much more difficult than mine and today I am finding a new admiration for the six weeks my sophomores have remained faithful to UNINTIMIDATED. Satan's head has definitely been crushed and their spiritual lives have remained alive...PRAISE GOD