I wonder sometimes whether our generation has a chance. My English teacher said something interesting the other day, she said that her generation messed it up for us in every way possible, and that we have the job of cleaning it up. Well, my question is what makes our generation any different than theirs? I would love to say that I, as one person, can save our generation as a whole, but I'm just not sure I believe that. I know I have the power to change the people around me, simply by living my Christian life in front of them and showing them the love and grace I've found in Jesus, but an entire generation? How in the world am I supposed to influence a whole generation? I know God can do completely amazing things, he can do anything, but we have to be willing to let him. I'm ready, but I cannot do this alone. It will take more than one 16 year old girl on a mission from God to save us from the drugs, sex and self mutilation that we as a generation find so enticing. It will take more than one youth group who invites all their friends to play crazy games and learn to love each other and, in time, the world. It takes people I've never even met, people everywhere to step up and reach out to everyone around them, not just the people who they feel comfortable with. I realize that's where it starts, but it is only the beginning.
Do not get me wrong, I don't claim to have mastered this, I'm just starting on this journey. I've found that there are easy ways to make a difference, but that they are not all easy. Making event pages on Facebook to invite everyone you know to come and meet Jesus, or to come and feed the homeless, thats so simple. Stepping up and telling your best friend that talking smack about the kid who makes fun; remembering that even the guy who sits in front of you and does everything humanly possible to annoy you, and succeeds, is important to God and was made for a specific purpose; honoring thy mother and father, even when they nag you for not cleaning your room when you've busy trying to save your best friend from herself; grasping the fact that every word you say and every move you make is being watched by the people around you who think you are a hypocrite is anything but simple.
This task of influencing people is a two edged sword. When you point one finger you leave three pointing back at you, and I think that is important to see. I'm realizing that with every criticism I find in someone, I should find one in myself and work to change them. How can we ask people to change if we cannot ourselves change?
I do not hold all the answers. I am a holder of questions. But I'm learning to search for those answers within myself by listening to the Savior I cherish within me. It starts with baby steps, but we should never be afraid to leap. Yes, we will fall flat on our face, we will be laughed at, life will be a living hell some days. But we do not reap all that we sow. Who knows what one smile, one invite to youth group, one hour spent working at a homeless shelter can do? The only way our generation has a chance to be a good influence on the future is if we let the future remain a mystery, and leave it in God's hands. We cannot see all that he is doing, but we must never allow that to stop us from individually standing up and jumping, because staying on our comfortable couches and watching the insane cruelties that we see everyday pass by is just going to leave our generation saying the same words my teacher had for me. I don't want to leave a mess, I want to clean up what was left in front of me, and it starts with us.
People need more than event pages to come meet jesus. the lie that facebook is a good replacement for relationships is one of the most damaging lies of our time. i commend you for standing up for god, but focus on lifestyle evangelism. let jesus work through you and live a life he can shine in. people are much more likely to follow that than some pretentious invitation to meet a jesus they've never seen.
the best way to let god work through you is to live like he lived. jesus hung out with the lowest of the low, setting examples and asking them to simply to follow him first, saying he would change them later. let your life be a model of this. get off facebook and go pray for your friends or call them just to see what's up in their lives. if people cant see christ's love in you, why would they want it themselves?
Peace and blessings,
-Liz
I agree that lifestyle evangelism is more important, but I do not agree that I need to get off facebook. God can work through all means, not just face to face contact. I didn't mean at all that facebook trumps acting out my faith, thats just one easy way to do it. I'm not replacing the difficult with the easy, but its one easy way I can serve Christ. That is a ministry that I feel called to, and I don't see any reason to back down.
-Anne Michelle
Rest in peace
yourfuneralguy
http://www.lowercostfuneral.com/rbrianblog
Jesus Christ can change the world.
It is true for every generation since his birth, death, and resurrection.
Rest in Peace.
My dad says the same exact thing to me, that his generation is leaving us a mess that our generation will need to clean up. Doesn't that seem a bit weird? Like, my dad says this like it's a big revelation or something, but I definitely think it's been the case for every generation...we've all been called to do greater things than those who preceded us. Anyway, I wholeheartedly agree with you: the future has to stay in God's hands. He stays the same through the fluctuations of the generations..
nice post :)
drugs, sex, and self mutilation have been apart of human culture since time first began. The first king of Athens was from wiping semen from her leg after she had been raped by Acthynus as greek mythology tells it. The first christians believed that flailing was a way to cleanse evil spirits away, showing their devotion to christ through pain. Drugs, many great visionaries wrote some of their best work under the influence of one drug or another. You know what I think it is. I think it's easier to control a depressed pissed off population than a vibrant, eager, enlightened bunch.
that these things have been around since time began, but I disagree with your last statement, "it's easier to control a depressed pissed off population than a vibrant, eager, enlightened bunch," because we are not controlling them. They are messing up their own lives and all the lives around them. And a vibrant, eager, and enlightened bunch would not need controlling, because they would be doing good on their own.
Just my opinion.
-Anne Michelle