Honor your father and your mother ... so that you may live long and that it may go well with you. Deut. 5:16

MTV has been called "the most researched channel in history." MTV is constantly looking for ways to hook kids, boost ratings, and sell stuff. The goal is not to help kids flourish but to make money for the giant corporation that owns MTV. A company boss boasted, "At MTV, we don't shoot for the 14-year-olds--we own them."

If you're a kid who disobeys your parents, you may think you're escaping adult power and doing what you and your friends want. Don't fool yourself. Youth culture isn't run by youth. It's run by adults. For every kid who buys the CDs of messed up singers, there's a music company chairman getting richer. For every kid who uses drugs or booze, there's a drug boss or brewing executive making money. For every kid watching dirty movies, there's a corporation counting cash. Greedy grownups grab dollars, while kids get addicted, catch diseases, and wreck their lives. Why listen to adults who rip you off and ruin you rather than those who want what's best for you?

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy," says Jesus. "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10). Jesus doesn't want to wreck your life. Neither do parents who love Jesus and you. They want you to "have life, and have it to the full." Honor and obey your parents if you want to flourish on earth and live forever in heaven.

PRAYER--Father in heaven, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Help us to flourish under your authority and the under the authority of godly parents. Amen.