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From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham

Dear Rev. Graham: The Guardian reported that four in 10 young people fear having children due to the climate crisis and fear that governments are not protecting them, the planet, or future generations. Youth cry out, “The future is frightening!” This was not the case when I was in my youth. What has happened? – F.S.

Dear F.S.: In the study of world history, it would be difficult to find a single time when conditions were ideal or the future was not clouded with uncertainty. Even when social and political circumstances have been reasonably good, the world has been ravaged by natural disasters, plagues, and war. While modern medicine has removed many of the things which threatened life only a generation or two ago, modern technology has developed weapons of mass destruction that can wipe out entire civilizations and cyber security is big business. But thankfully, God is in control of the future.
The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah lived during a terrible time. The Jewish people had been carried away into captivity and faced a dismal future. Many of them must have asked the same question, but Jeremiah told them, “‘Marry and have sons and daughters … . For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to … give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:6, 11, NIV). He could say this with confidence because he knew that God was Lord over the future, as well as the past and present.
This does not mean everything will be easy for our children. But our responsibility is clear: If God gives children to us, we should do whatever we can to strengthen them spiritually so that they, too, can face the future with a confident hope in God and be an example to others.
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(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)