In the 1990s, a group of Washington children participated in an eight year anti-smoking-campaign program. The results were not impressive. Of the group that went through the program, 25.4 percent now smoke regularly. And of the control group—those who did not participate in the study—25.7 percent now smoke regularly. The education campaign hardly made any difference at all.

Our society believes education is the answer to our culture's problems. And for some of them, it is. But for many, it is not. People don't need new ideas or new techniques but a new power within to change bad behavior or to resist temptations. It is by the Spirit that we gain self-control (Gal. 5:22); it is when we live by the Spirit that we gain life and peace (Rom. 8:6).