Teens Talk - The Everlasting Bad

The Grand Rapids Time
12-12-2008
By Marcel Gamble

People have an awkward way of operating. They act as if they are mechanical machines that constantly have to be upgraded.
Unknowingly they complain and take things for granted. I know because I am one of those machines that break down on a daily bases.
I break down because even though I own 8 pairs of shoes already, I am mad because I still don’t own a specific pair.
I break down because although I have clothes on my back I don’t own the hottest name brands.
It’s accurate to say it’s not only bad that influences me to act a certain way like so many others. It’s also stupidity that gets the best of me.
First, my computer needs reprogramming because I constantly forget that I am blessed with more then I should have. There are machines that do not have a roof to live under, a bed to sleep in, and a bathroom to use.
I think that I am experiencing some shortage in my mechanical body because I should be ashamed to think I am not blessed.
We all need to realize that God blesses us in so many ways that we don’t even notice because we are caught on being known as the best in the world. Set your mind on things above and not on things on this earth.
Secondly, my bolts need tightening because I am always falling apart due to my body that I continually claim is aching when I don’t want to do certain things.
I feel like a worthless machine when I think about the machines that are actually missing limbs and who have physical disabilities.
There is an everlasting bad that is present, surrounding and affecting everyone.
Even in church bad is brought up frequently and good is barely mentioned. Pastor may say, “I am tired of seeing these kids on the corner with their pants hanging off their behinds.”
Unfortunately, pastor doesn’t get around to saying, I’m proud of these children that are changing their lives around. Young machines hear these messages and feel neglected in the church and they eventually stray away from their church families.
If bad is all a young machine hears then its only nature that a young machine burns out before hearing the good.
This bad is making us blind to good.
This bad is causing us to have a materialistic greed.
For example, there is a machine that has a house, a car and a family, but then this machine turns on the television and realizes that his life is still empty.
He wants the house that has a balcony, 4 bathrooms, master bedroom and an indoor pool. He wants the car with the 24 inch rims and leather interior.
He is no longer satisfied with the wife that he has been married to for years. Now he wants 3 girlfriends on the side.
This machine is currently out of order and beyond the stage of reprogramming which means now this machine is scrap metal.
As long as we all allow bad and negativity to control our lives then we all will become scrap metal. There is good in the world. The problem is that we don’t choose to see good.
Galations 2:20; “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”