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God vs BAE

If someone were to make a realistic movie based on the book of Judges, no responsible parent would let their teens see it.

That's how I started my discussion with my youth group last night. We looked at the life of Samson, a guy with such anger issues, he makes the Incredible Hulk seem rather friendly and docile by comparison,

And let me just say how much fun it can be to introduce teens who clearly only think they know the Bible stories. Just telling the story of Samson left so many shocked looks on their faces, and his story is only 4 chapters long. Judges 13-16 if you want to read it yourself.

I told the teens over and over again how we all have to make a choice. God vs BAE. For those of you wondering what BAE means, it's slang for before anyone else. We're discussing how each of us has to make a choice to put God before everyone, including the crush and the guy and the date and, yes, even the spouse.

BAE gives you a narrow focus where you only have energy for BAE.
God gives you a broader focus where you can properly love all people.

So we examined the life of Samson, a man chosen by God. Sadly, Samson chose to focus on BAE for most of his life, even if it mostly meant avenging his imagined slights.

Here were the application points I gave them;


  1. If BAE keeps you from coming to church/youth group/etc, BAE has become an idol.
  2. If BAE narrows your focus so you don't think about anyone or anthing else, BAE has become an idol.
  3. If BAE wants you to have sex or do anything that you wouldn't normally do in front of your parents or youth pastor, BAE has become a sin. 
  4. If you lose your BAE and you slaughter whole towns of people, then you have probably learned the wrong things from the life of Samson. And BAE has become an idol. 
Don't choose BAE over God. 
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