Thursday, August 04, 2005

Not a teen anymore

It's happened. I was reading some of the numerous e-magazines online for teens, and suddenly I realised that much of the content was, well, juvenile. Real life, for me, was much deeper than that. It was then that I looked up to the word "teen" and realised - I'm not a teen anymore. I ceased being one last year, and yet, I'm still going to teen magazines. Okay, perhaps for this one I frequent I can be excused, because they label themselves CampusLife.net (and far off in another corner it says for Christian teens) and technically I'm still experiencing campus life, but the reality is that I've grown out of some of the problems I faced (and teens still do) when I was a teen, and some of those problems became more complex. It's funny because I don't think I've grown that much since the few years ago. Still, the situation now is that the under-18 restrictions don't apply to me, and the under-21 restrictions will soon not apply either. Time for me to graduate to different things.
That said, some of the stuff on that e-magazine is not bad. A potent reminder on that site from AW Tozer, speaking about how the saints, although being so different in manner and character, actually were similar in one thing:
I venture to suggest that the one vital quality which they had in common was spiritual receptivity. Something in them was open to heaven, something which urged them Godward. Without attempting anything like a profound analysis, I shall say simply that they had spiritual awareness and that they went on to cultivate it until it became the biggest thing in their lives. They differed from the average person in that when they felt the inward longing they did something about it. They acquired the lifelong habit of spiritual response. They were not disobedient to the heavenly vision. As David put it neatly, "When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek" (Ps. 27:8).

Let me do something about myself, be it in relation to God, or others, or the future.

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