To my generation

To whom it may concern (and this concerns all who are in this world today)

I am a Christian. I believe that my lord Jesus is the son of God and he died for the sins of the world. I believe that he conquered death and resurrected, and through his resurrection we are assured of everlasting life through him. I believe that all of the commandments can be summed up as these: Love God, and love thy neighbor as thy self. If you love God you will seek him and obey his commandments, if you love your neighbor…well that is the love of God shinning through you.

You have probably noticed, just as I have, that there is something terribly wrong with the world in which we live. This thing that is wrong with the world can sometimes appear subtle, and at other times it can be blatant, jarring us out of complacency and into dismay.

The truth of the matter is that there has been something wrong with this world ever since mans fall from grace, and we as a generation face the same issues that those before us faced.

And yet, I write this because I do believe that we exist at a very special time in history.

I have spoken to people lately that have told me of how hard it is to be a Christian in this generation. Other generations were persecuted and slaughtered on account of their faith; perhaps we today are not being persecuted in that manner however there are challenges that we face that are somewhat unique to us.

The truth remains that although millions are suffering, life has generally never been as comfortable as it is today. There have never been as many alternatives to bible study and prayer as exist today. With the advent of technology, the devil is able to have direct access into homes via satellite and the internet, enslaving the children of God with the attractions of this world.

I believe that we live at a time that God spoke of in the book of Joel.

God said “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions”. Joel 2:28
We live at a time that God has made so many blessings and provisions available to us, that we might stand against wave after wave of spiritual persecution by the devil.

But yet many of us remain silent. A silence that perhaps comes from being too enslaved to help free anyone, or a notion of the message of Christ as a thing for pastors and other “holy” people, perhaps it is being too occupied with what’s going on in our own lives, to name just a few.

But I want to tell you today, that there are millions who are in need of help. A help for the body and a help for the spirit, and one day God will want to know what you did to help. If we are to be used by God to the helping of the world we must first break the chains that hold us back, we must open our eyes and see.

A fairly recent experience fixed this firmly in my mind, as I saw with my own eyes the state of the world in which we live:

A LANDMARK EXPERIENCE


(A friend invited me to a presentation)

As I sat through the presentation, the speaker spoke of all of the wonderful breakthroughs they have achieved in people’s lives. People who never had relationships with members of their family came to develop them; people overcame obstacles that had hindered their progress. There were even people in the audience who stood up and gave testimony to this effect. The speaker continued, saying that at a price of $440 the three-day seminar can change an aspect of your life.

Now as I listened to this, I scanned the audience and God began to show me things. I saw a sick woman stand up and say that she doesn’t know what is wrong with her and she is hoping she can find some direction here. I saw so many people with the look of need all over their faces.

Now my first reaction was: Come on people! Can you not see? There is a greater power out there. The power of God can heal not just one aspect of your life, but also every single aspect of this life and the life after this one, and it is FREE.

Now needless to say, all of these things that I was thinking are true, but there was a pressing truth that God wanted to impress upon me, and he used my knee-jerk reaction to reveal it to me. In the middle of the presentation we were given a break, unable to contain myself I asked my friend if he would step outside for a word. He obliged.

Now since I knew this friend, I had never really talked to him about my relationship with God, because for much of the time I knew him I had either neglected the relationship, or did not proactively seek to enlighten him. Now was the time I thought.

And so I began to tell him that although I do not doubt that this organization can help people, there is something greater. I showed him the bible in my hand and began to tell him of the awesome changes that God has made in my life.

Something happened somewhere along the line: I stopped speaking and started listening.

I listened to my friend as he told me that he has always known that there is a God. He told me that he never doubted that. Especially since he had his son, whom he named Christian (We laughed about the irony given the conversation we were having). He told me that there is no way a person cannot believe in God after seeing the miracle of birth, and the growth of a fetus into a 1 year old child.
But my friend began to tell me about how he has no faith in the Church as an institution. His words to me were “Wendu if God were here I believe he would say: This is not what I wanted”

A blessed epiphany was upon me. Unbeknownst to him, God was speaking to me through him. Once more God was using this friend to bless me, but this time with the knowledge of a truth, the driving home of a point, a realization that the sick woman, all those poor people with a look of longing upon their faces, are all looking to something else for help because we as Christians have not lived up to our calling. These people are willing to pay money for a counterfeit thing, because those who have been put in charge of the real thing have made it into a caricature, an occasion for political infighting, sexual abuse, segregation, discrimination, all the while turning our backs on millions of people who desperately need help.
No, it is not those people in the auditorium that need to open their eyes and see, it us, we who know the truth. Our lives, actions and deeds should make the Church attractive to the unbeliever. Many Churches today need healing as much as those people who attended the seminar.

It starts with us. We in our own way need to change this perception of the church as a place where priests molest children, where people who don’t have nice clothes are looked down upon, where the rich get preferential treatment. Jesus will not come down again from heaven to do it for us.

But we wait, when there is so much we can do…

We can encourage each other in the lord, we can offer our prayers for people in need, we can give material things, and we can give our time. There is no shortage of work in the house of the lord, in fact the bible has said “The harvest is plenty, but the workers are few”. We can roll up our sleeves and get involved in people’s lives…it could even be our loved ones. Really get involved in the lives of people and find out what troubles them and how you can help, or even just listen. Some people, like my friend, need someone who will encourage them simply by listening.
Brothers and sisters it’s time for our generation to settle this with God- and you can only start with yourself. When you give an account of your life, what will you have to say for yourself?

If you already walk in the lord, I encourage you to continue to do so. Know that you stand to inherit a blessed inheritance. Your name is inscribed in the palm of his hand. He has every single hair on your head accounted for. He will always be with you.

If you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your lord and savior, I urge you to do so. There is a healing that awaits you, as the spirit of God sets you free.

And if like many you’ve been a spectator, watching others do the work of harvest while being content to hold unto that which you have, know that it is time to share. You know the awesome power of God, do you not? Did you not call to Jesus in your time of need and he showed up? This means that you are in possession of a truth that could help and save many. If Christianity were a sport, it would be a contact sport. This requires getting up close and personal with people- Nobody ever served God by minding their business.

One of my professors’s recently said “You’ve got to show up in life”. I am inclined to agree. People of my generation, when our stories are told, let it be said that we showed up for Jesus. Join me in this vow, to show up for Jesus everyday of our lives. For who he is and for what he has done. The angels worship him. He is the morning star and deserving of our unyielding devotion. Show up for Jesus everyday of your lives, now and forever. Amen.