By Lawrence Nwimo
The Archbishop, Province of the Niger, and Bishop of Awka Diocese, Most Rev Alexander Chibuzo Ibezim has blamed the deteriorating lifestyle among youths on their activities on the social media.
According to him, social media has had negative impact on the lives of Nigerian youths especially young girls in the society who he said engage in various negative activities to the detriment of their moral life.
Archbishop Ibezim said this on Sunday during the 2021 Mothering Sunday Special Service at the Cathedral Church of St. Faith, Awka, calling on mothers to seek spiritual solutions by praying for the young generation of children.
Delivering his sermon on the theme ” the Name of the Lord is a Strong Tower,” as found in Proverb 18 verse 10, Ibezim urged mothers not to relent in training their children who he said were the future of every family.
He advised mothers to monitor the movement of their children through prayers disclosing that most mothers did not know the whereabouts and activities of their children, especially on social media. He said the young people had gone out of hand because of the advent of telecommunications gadgets which are alien to most parents.
He said most girls connect to so many bad friends through social media including dating men outside the country only to portray Godly life to their parents to deceive them, urging parents to embrace prayers as the only remedy to salvage the generation in the technology is driven world.
Ibezim who also preached from Isaiah 41verse10 decried that most women are easily swallowed by fear due to problems relating to the family. He advised mothers to shun marital fear and encouraged them to draw closer to God as “he is ever-present to save those who believe in him.”
He urged mothers to understand their role in the family saying that some women in the family mislead their husbands into involving themselves in wrongful acts reminiscent of Saphira and Ananias in the bible.
Ibezim charged mothers to stand by God in times of challenges and advised them to understand that God does not disappoint in any situation. He urged widows among mothers to hope in God for he is a great comforter and provider, assuring that whatever that is of a burden to mothers is a burden to God.
Addressing the mothers, the president Mothers Union, Women’s Guild and Girls Guild, Diocese of Awka and Province of the Niger, Mrs. Martha Chioma Ibezim urged mothers to trust and look unto God irrespective of their challenges stressing that mothers are role models that the society and the younger generation looks up to.
Mrs. Ibezim recalled that mothering Sunday was a testimony of God’s goodness to mothers globally having survived the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic. She however stressed that even amid the greatest challenges of mankind, the safety of Christians remained in the name of the Lord.
While Mrs. Ibezim urged mothers to live a life of honour and prestige, she encouraged them to work hard to make sure that their children and family were equipped with knowledge, skills, and abilities to make it.
She identified the greatest needs among families as security but assured that such could be obtained in God. He enjoined mothers to accept God’s divine assurance of protection as activated in a lifetime with Jesus Christ.
While she advised women to be prayerful, she admonished young girls who are future mothers to serve God in truth and practice urging them to shun bad life and take up that which will exalt God’s name.