1 Corinthians 9:19-22 

For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to the Jews I became as a
Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to
those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to
the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save
some. (NKJV) 
There is often a great barrier between Christians and unbelievers. To some degree that is to be expected, because we view things
from a different perspective, and live by biblical principles often scorned by the world. Many times, however, this barrier is in
place because Christians have so far removed themselves from unbelievers that they have absolutely no connection with them.

Paul wasn't like that. He made a point of being like the people he wanted to win to Christ. He did this without compromising or
falling into sin. He looked at what was good or morally acceptable in people, and then strove to adopt a similar lifestyle. His sole
motivation for doing so was to win people to Christ.

Lifestyle Evangelism

Consider how this might look in today's world. There are people who periodically provide food, clothing, and other assistance for
the poor. That is a good and important ministry. There are others with a desire to reach the poor, who take it a step further: they
move into the low rent district, so they can live among the poor they want to minister to. Although both approaches to reaching
out to the poor are valid, the latter is more effective.

When our family lived in India, one of the highest compliments my Hindu friend paid me was, "Rebecca, you are totally
Indianized." That, of course, was not completely true, but it pointed out that my decision to do things the Indian way as much as
possible had not gone unnoticed. I became like the Indian people by wearing Indian clothing, removing my shoes or covering my
head when it was the right thing to do, eating gooey, messy food with my bare hands, and doing my best to speak, read, and write
the Hindi language.

Build Bridges

Perhaps you're not called to reach the poor by moving into a housing project, or by going to a foreign country and living like the
nationals. That's fine; we all have a different calling on our lives. God may be calling you to reach athletes with the truth of the
gospel, as you participate in the local softball league. Maybe you're a stay-at-home mom who could develop an interest that can
be shared with unbelievers. Whatever you do, look for God-honoring ways to build bridges with the unbelievers you are
attempting to reach.
See all Light Reflection Daily Devotionals
Rebecca Livermore is a freelance writer, speaker and guest contributor for About.com. Her passion is helping people grow in
Christ. She is the author of the weekly devotional column Relevant Reflections on www.studylight.org and is a part-time staff
writer for Memorize Truth (www.memorizetruth.com). For more information visit Rebecca's Bio Page.

Is youth’s lifestyle bad?

Dr. Nguyen Kim Quy from the Vietnam Association of Educational Psychology: Vietnamese youth lack goals and ideals

There are no statistics or scientific research work in Vietnam on the downgrading of morals or lifestyle of a part of Vietnamese
young people today. However, the number of shocking cases related to the youth is increasing, to more and more serious levels,
for instance in the cases of children killing their fathers in Hai Duong province and HCM City, students killing their girlfriends
and boyfriends using cruel methods, etc.
Young people have never been as aggressive as today. Some boys kill others just because they didn’t like the victims’ glints,
voice or smile or just because of a minor disagreement.

These people think that force is the “justice”, not the law or social moral.

There were up to 1600 violence cases related to students in the 2009-2010 academic year, causing at least seven deaths.

The first reason for the downgraded morals and lifestyle is the irresponsibility of parents, who are only interested in teaching
knowledge to their children, not ethics.

“Study manners first and then learn how to read and write”. But we have given priority to teaching knowledge and disregarded
the teaching of good behavior.

Many parents have imposed their will and desires on their children. This has created pressure on children, making them angry
and once this anger explodes, it is very fierce, which shows through their recklessness toward their parents and brutal actions
against them.

Under the work pressure, parents spend little time toeducate their children. They often think that if they send their children to
school then teachers are responsible to teach the kids. Not Until their children become corrupt, do they start paying attention to
teaching their kids but by then it is too late.

Parents must be good examples for their children but let’s see how the adults live. If parents’lifestyle isn’t good, they can’t teach
their children to become good people.

Some rich families spoil their children. The children will then only do what they like, ignoring moral principles and laws.

As regards school, the media has been talking about teachers extensively. There are not manymodel teachers today and the reason
is the fault of the teacher training schools, which don’t pay sufficient attention to training teachers’ personalities.

Local newspapers have recently reported many cases in which teachers abused and beat their students, teachers who took bribes,
who forced their children to attend extra classes, etc. The image of teachers in the eyes of students is bad.

Thirdly, our management of movies, publications, Internet is not good. Pornography and violence flood the Internet. Violent
games are not effectively controlled.

I also see many young people who live without goals, aspirations and ideals. With the currently predominant teaching method –
with a teacher reading out loud and students taking notes – it is no wonder that they aren’t interested in their studies either. Also,
no wonder they don’t have any ideals of love and compassion, considering the pressure of success from their families and their
disappointment in the adults’ sham.

The youth also lacks healthy playgrounds while the virtual world has many interesting things. But they learn bad things from that
world.

Developed countries have also experienced such changes.

But I think that our prevention actions are ineffective. We don’t have serious research on this topic.

As a researcher and a mother, I wish that Vietnamese parents had a chance to attend classes teaching how to be good wives, good
husbands or good grandparents. Through such classes, they learn how to teach their children and to be good examples for them.
Government agencies need to take drastic measures to put under control the rubbish culture that is infiltrating Vietnam through
publications, movies and the Internet.

Hoang Phuong, a student from the Institute for Journalism: Educational methods are problematic

The decadence of morals and lifestyle happens to a small part of young people whose awareness is poor.

However, the adults only criticize the youth but they don’t try to learn what the youth think and why they behave like this?

Moreover, besides the reasons related to family, schools, the infiltration of pornography and violence, there is another reason: our
educational methods are problematic.

We should call it “stealing the childhood” of kids because children go to school to learn and learn, not play or enjoy themselves.
They don’t have freedom to develop, have no chance to be close to the nature, have no time to relax.

Our education tends to focus on teaching children IT skills or foreign languages and disregard history, ethics, etc, the subjects
that teach students values of tradition and morality.

Nguyen Duc, student of Hanoi University for Social Sciences and Humanity: don’t look one-sidedly

To teach their children effectively, parents should change themselves first.

It seems that Vietnamese parents don’t pay attention to the thinking of their children. Instead, the “self” is great and very
important to the youth today.

We expect people to not look at art one-sidedly.

Thao Huong from the Hanoi Teacher Training University: Living in a hurry is showing the “self”

I’m a person who belongs to the 9X generation (born in the 1990s), the generation which is considered to be pragmatic. But I
don’t think that living in a hurry is pragmatic but it is the way to show up personality and the self.

Perhaps some young people show some “deviations” in their behavior but it’s because they don’t have any ideals or goals in their
lives. They are told to follow predefined directions and become confused.

Thanh Tam from the University of Labor and Society: when teachers are not examples

A sad fact about Vietnam is that teachers at kindergartens and primary schools are disregarded while they are the ones who lay
the first bricks for the development of children’s personality.

Children respect their teachers most - only after their parents. If these “mirrors” are dim, what will children look at?

POD – leader of the Fly Walker dancing troupe: Adults impose their will on children

The youth have virtual trends but it is not true to say that they live without living goals and ideals.

Visiting night clubs or discotheques is a normal hobby but some young people take drugs at these places. As a result, this hobby
becomes a bad one in the eyes of many people.

I’ve heard many people say that hip-hop is uneducated and weird, etc. I don’t understand why they have such thoughts.
It is just a hobby. Why youngsters in other countries can have passion for hip-hop, but not Vietnamese youth? I think that adults
still impose their will and old thoughts on the youth.