Our generation has been fooled into thinking that life is all
about us and that in order to be successful in life you have to be rich, have a
nice house in the suburbs with four bedrooms, two kids, a cat and a dog, and
two cars in the driveway. We think
we’re invincible, that if we work hard nothing bad will ever happen to us. We’ve been ingrained with the Hollywood
doctrine of “if it doesn’t make you happy all the time, get rid of
it” – speaking of clothes, cars, and spouses.
Though our generation has been taugt this, there is something
else about us that is different from previous generations: when we get together
in unity, we have the power to change the world. We are being called to rise up, to step out in to what God has
for us.
When we were in Manzini, Gary Black said that only four percent
of my generation goes to church, and that reasons people gave for not going tie
in to something along the lines of “I can’t find what I’m looking for
there, so why go?” What has
happened in the last fifty or one hundred years to change the mindset of
American youths that much that they wouldn’t be able to find what they’re
looking for in the place that should be able to point them to all the
answers? We’ve been cheated by being
told that life should be easy, that “I” am the most important person
to me, that everything should revolve around “me,” that we should be
in control, and that we’ll live forever if only we do just the right things and
follow just the right rules.
Gary gave us a list of five things our generation needs to take
in, so that we can live life to the fullest and become agents of change in the
world around us.
- Life is hard:
Being a Christian is not supposed to be easy all the time. We are going to suffer, get hurt, fall
down. All great spirituality is
about what we do with our pain.
Embracing pain and learning from it will make you conscious, awake,
and alert. God comes in and wounds
our wounds and then starts to heal them…and we should embrace it, not
turn and run the other direction when things are hard. - You’re not that important:
Either we are made by another or self-made, but all of us are
transformed by people that are already transformed, and we can’t do
something until we see other people do it. Though our souls need meaning as much as our bodies need
food, we can’t give meaning. - It’s not about you:
Life is not about you but you are about life. You are about a universal and eternal
pattern, and you don’t have to figure it all out. We should be satisfied with being a part and only a part of
the bigger picture. - You are not in control:
You just get to BE, even if you can’t wrap head around it. Everybody tells you to take control of
your life and it sounds so godly and spiritual, but our bodies, souls, and
especially our failures teach us that we are not in control. All God wants is the “yes” in
our spirit – allow ourselves to be used despite the evidence against us. When we realize we’re not in control we
begin to care about other stuff, and become part of the huge mystery that
helps change the world. - You are going to die:
The most courageous thing you’ll ever do is accept that you’re just
yourself, but we must die to self-image and small egos in order to become
our real selves.
Our generation needs to
rise up, to learn and believe these truths that have become so skewed in our
lives, and to take back the kingdom God has set for us.
