As I was walking the streets of Eastern Europe today,
my heart started to race,
the nervous sweat started to drip
and for the first time, the revelation of reality hit me. I am starting to become extremely concerned for my generation of Christians. Even at Christian university's the true salt and light of being a true follower of Jesus has clearly been lost. It's really disturbing. As many of us have heard that we live in a "Post Christian generation" from my observations, I would like to suggest that we now live in a "Post' "Post" Christian generation. By "Post Post" I mean to say that even the Christians in universities don't genuinely pursue a relationship with Jesus anymore. I realize this is a very bold statement to make, but I believe the time has come to expose things honestly as they truly are.
I would like to explain this concept with a metaphor. So imagine that there is a really long fence. On one side of the fence there is a nice green patch of luscious grass, and on the other side there is an edge of the cliff, with a drop off in which you can't even see the bottom, it merely looks like a black hole. This is how I would describe what following Jesus is like. On the green side you have what I call the "safety Christians" the ones who claim to follow Jesus, but choose to stay in their luxurious comfort zone. Then you have those Christians who are sitting on the fence, one foot touches the green grass, the other foot touches the edge of the cliff. They are "luke warm" and they simply can't decide if they want to stay on the safe side or jump off the cliff for Jesus. They sway back and forth, never quite making up their mind. Then there are those Christians that "jump off the cliff" for Jesus ,trusting that He will catch you at the bottom, the radical followers who truly, genuinely passionately care about following Jesus and telling others about Him. They choose to go way out of their comfort zones, realizing many times they will feel quite uncomfortable. But this is where the true meaning and purpose of life will be found, living FULLY for Jesus, giving it your all, day in and day out. Yeah, the 2 other interpretations might sound safer and less controversial, but choosing to live those 2 other lifestyles, you will never feel truly alive. You will always feel like something is missing in your heart and soul.
So my challenge for you dearest friend....how will YOU choose to live your life for Jesus?
It just honestly breaks my heart, how my generation around me really doesn't seem care about Jesus or bother to take Him seriously. There seems to be a huge lack of radical passion for Jesus. It's one thing to go to church on sunday and "check it off your TO DO" list, it's another to be a true follower of Jesus. This issue is not bound to just one culture, I have seen this in America, and especially have I seen this happen in Europe. I honestly begin to wonder, is the reason for the lack of passion for Jesus because our friends and the people around us, haven't truly experienced Jesus life changing love in their own lives? Is the reason we are not seeing lives radically transformed for Jesus because they haven't tasted and seen the power of the Holy Spirit?
So this leaves us with a very great challenge......and a very huge motivation to awaken the hearts of our dying generation.....what will we choose to do? Be passively accepting things as they are, or take that step of faith into the beautiful unknown and see our generation reignite their burning passion for Jesus?
my heart started to race,
the nervous sweat started to drip
and for the first time, the revelation of reality hit me. I am starting to become extremely concerned for my generation of Christians. Even at Christian university's the true salt and light of being a true follower of Jesus has clearly been lost. It's really disturbing. As many of us have heard that we live in a "Post Christian generation" from my observations, I would like to suggest that we now live in a "Post' "Post" Christian generation. By "Post Post" I mean to say that even the Christians in universities don't genuinely pursue a relationship with Jesus anymore. I realize this is a very bold statement to make, but I believe the time has come to expose things honestly as they truly are.
I would like to explain this concept with a metaphor. So imagine that there is a really long fence. On one side of the fence there is a nice green patch of luscious grass, and on the other side there is an edge of the cliff, with a drop off in which you can't even see the bottom, it merely looks like a black hole. This is how I would describe what following Jesus is like. On the green side you have what I call the "safety Christians" the ones who claim to follow Jesus, but choose to stay in their luxurious comfort zone. Then you have those Christians who are sitting on the fence, one foot touches the green grass, the other foot touches the edge of the cliff. They are "luke warm" and they simply can't decide if they want to stay on the safe side or jump off the cliff for Jesus. They sway back and forth, never quite making up their mind. Then there are those Christians that "jump off the cliff" for Jesus ,trusting that He will catch you at the bottom, the radical followers who truly, genuinely passionately care about following Jesus and telling others about Him. They choose to go way out of their comfort zones, realizing many times they will feel quite uncomfortable. But this is where the true meaning and purpose of life will be found, living FULLY for Jesus, giving it your all, day in and day out. Yeah, the 2 other interpretations might sound safer and less controversial, but choosing to live those 2 other lifestyles, you will never feel truly alive. You will always feel like something is missing in your heart and soul.
So my challenge for you dearest friend....how will YOU choose to live your life for Jesus?
It just honestly breaks my heart, how my generation around me really doesn't seem care about Jesus or bother to take Him seriously. There seems to be a huge lack of radical passion for Jesus. It's one thing to go to church on sunday and "check it off your TO DO" list, it's another to be a true follower of Jesus. This issue is not bound to just one culture, I have seen this in America, and especially have I seen this happen in Europe. I honestly begin to wonder, is the reason for the lack of passion for Jesus because our friends and the people around us, haven't truly experienced Jesus life changing love in their own lives? Is the reason we are not seeing lives radically transformed for Jesus because they haven't tasted and seen the power of the Holy Spirit?
So this leaves us with a very great challenge......and a very huge motivation to awaken the hearts of our dying generation.....what will we choose to do? Be passively accepting things as they are, or take that step of faith into the beautiful unknown and see our generation reignite their burning passion for Jesus?
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