Volume 21 Issue 8
The world, your world, my world has crossed into new frontiers faster than a speeding rocket. We have made the passage into this new future, but no one can be certain what exactly that means, how it will affect us. We know little about the consequences of our modern knowledge, inventions and devices. Many suspect that much of the innovation is destructive. What is now changing the world politically, culturally and scientifically is not absolutely in our control. Frighteningly, there is no going back! Into this setting comes your generation, and you have no choice but to live NOW! Living in the past or even romanticizing about the past is not an option.
The velocity of today’s revolution affords you neither comfort nor much time to think. The tools by which you must construct your life and careers have been revolutionized. The mediums of expression change before you can hardly get your brush to address the canvas. Your thinking and vision, believe it or not, have been shaped against your conscience, will and knowledge. Deliberate efforts by determined men, often evil men, are deconstructing the old paths. Their hopes are centered on forging some new way, some new process, some new consciousness, even some new religion by which nations may be reshaped, globalized without absolutes and especially without Jesus. It is the ultimate de-Christianization. In Christ, your challenges are difficult and unprecedented; however, your opportunities are more magnificent and adventurous than space exploration. But this is not a good time for cowards. And it is not an idyllic setting for the unprepared. You will need strong convictions, strong ropes that bind you to a true point of orientation. You will either nail down what you believe, or you will be swept away in a flood of confusion.
Maurice Levy, CEO of Publicis Groupe, writing in the International Herald Tribune, called this day, “a day of unprecedented crisis.” He writes, “In fact I believe that over the past 20 years (at least) the world has lost its bearings and has begun to wager with its moral values. Almost unnoticed, ethics have given way to cynical opportunism in business, in finance, in politics and in life in general.” In light of this, he asks this question, “What value system is shaping their imagination?” He implies that so much is going wrong, so much is filled with confusion, so many are corrupt and working without ethics that we must discover what is shaping their thinking. What spirit dominates the moment? That’s the right question for you and for all of us, in fact: What really is shaping our thinking, our beliefs? Most importantly: What is shaping our view of Jesus?
Here’s my question for this generation of Pentecostals: Do we have strong enough convictions against the evils of the world? Or, shall we say, enough certainty that wrong is wrong to conduct a meaningful counter attack against the world? If not, then why would God choose any of us or anoint us if we ourselves love the things of this world, the sin of this world, when unarguably His own purpose is to save men from the lust and corruption of this world (John 15:19). The church is the dwelling place for the “called out” believers in Christ. When we live our lives unto the world, like the world, then demonstratively we are not then yet “out of the world” or free from the influences of the world. Surely the Holy Spirit has taught us that we are not of this world, but we are “chosen out of this world.” Sinful behavior might seem like a fun night out to someone who has grown up in the church and one may see it as “kind of cool.”
But it ain’t cool to the already cool who are “sooo” done with cool and need a real solution to sin and the despair that it brings. And make no mistake that sinfulness creates an empty, unsatisfying life. Who do you know that has done better through drugs, or sexual impurity, or is all that happy living the double life in complete hypocrisy, faking their way through every church service, while trying to make the case, “Boy, when I get away from all these preachers and dictators I will be able to do what I want to do without having to answer to anyone. And then watch me have a good time.”
Indeed you should watch them. Watch them closely and don’t lie to yourself, such an attitude is a joke. And it doesn’t take long for it to become evident. I have been dealing with backsliders and hypocrites most of my life and it is a train wreck and not pretty. Avoid the whole process, live for God.
Youth is not anyone’s problem. Youth is not an affliction. God can and does use young men and women. What he looks for is passion, obedience, commitment, willingness, steadiness, a spirit of giving, a willingness to go, the capacity to love people (all people), and someone with a life that they will sacrifice to God. And age is not the issue. God will anoint a committed 16-year-old with the same anointing He would give to a 66-year-old. Many need to mature or develop through experience, of course, but God does not put anyone on hold, among those He calls, until they reach some pre-set age. He is ready to use you now, but only in the context of your ability and wisdom.
There is no better, more exciting life today than to be in the trenches fighting for the souls of men. It is an engagement for the young and the old, but the young have the most to contribute to their own generation. God’s prophetic word is hidden in the events and inventions of our day. That means that the world’s new technologies and political climates hold secrets of God’s unfolding purposes. Man may be thinking evil or control, “but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive” (Gen. 50:20). For an example, because of technology a million men are no longer divided by a million and reduced to one but today one man may be multiplied by a million and be as strong as a million. One times one million is one million. So the consciousness of one, the talent of one, the calling of one, the gift of one, the anointing of one may be increased a million fold. The day of human isolation is over. The communication problem has been solved. Money is scarcely a concern in reaching the lost. However, God-inspired ideas, dreams, visions and anointing are awaiting the right man, most likely the right young man. Would somebody please say yes?
Take up the cross. Forget about money and prosperity. Devote your life to living. Living fully. Living in truth. Living as a servant of God. Be confident that if you have a call of God, you have what it takes. Be prayerful, very prayerful. Hang out with Godly, and I mean Godly, men and women. Read and study hard, and then read some more, and study more. Say YES to the call of God.