So today I witnessed something profound. Something that on any other day would be…normal. I was sitting in the food court at a college
university in Alabama and listening to the hustling, the laughter, the talking;
the lives of college students my age go on around me. And on a little stage in the back of the room
were a handful of people singing praises to God and sharing the truth of His
word. As the songs played and
testimonies were shared, I couldn’t help but look around and wonder if anyone
was listening. I know my
generation. We are a demanding
generation that has the attention span of about 10 seconds. Doubt that?
Watch someone try to load something on their phone and if it takes
longer than a few seconds, they’ll start muttering under their breath. If it takes a few minutes, you may hear some
impatient sighs accompanied by a glare of frustration. This is the audience that I watched this
group of Christians try to reach out to and speak to.
I remember my thoughts of frustration as I looked
around and tried to find someone…anyone…who was singing along. Who was even looking in the direction of the
stage! The amount of people I saw I can
count on one hand. I observed as
everyone else ignored the people on the stage, acting as if there was nobody
there. I also saw others who would look
up to see what the disturbance was, saw it was a bunch of Christians “preaching
and singing” and went back to their conversations, glancing up every few
minutes with a look of annoyance.
As I sat quietly, I watched people my age come and
go. I heard truth, glorious and healing
truth, being spoken in the background. I
heard of the great salvation that God brings and His devotion towards us in
setting a plan in motion to rescue us from our rebellion. I listened as the Gospel was shared and
praises were sung to Jesus. And I
watched as the people around me went about their lives. Most never looked up. Most heard the “Jesus thing” as background
noise that could be ignored. Some may
not have heard or even noticed the stage at all, being so consumed with what
they thought was important in that moment.
Today I watched and listened as truth was proclaimed
in the midst of a windstorm. I watched
as believers were faithful to their calling in that moment and the truth fell
on many deaf ears. The great thing is
that I know the effort was not wasted. I
know that God used that for something.
Somebody heard something that they needed to hear. A believer was encouraged, someone with no
grasp of Christianity was exposed to the Gospel and a seed was planted. God’s word never comes back void, so I know
that the words spoken today had some impact.
At the very least, what I observed impacted me. So do not hear me say that today was a
failure or a waste of time.
But do hear me say this: Truth must be
defended. It must be proclaimed and it
must be shared. Christians today are at
war with the culture in defining Truth.
What I observed today reminded me of the lostness of my own
generation. Of the distractions that we
feed ourselves. We are short-tempered,
self-focused, and impatient. We are
losing our hearts and our lives to a culture that has every intention to
destroy us. We put our faith in shallow
and meaningless things and then wonder why they collapse under us and leave us
miserable and wanting more. My
generation needs Jesus.
As I watched all of this happen today, I felt
heart-broken at how out of focus we are as people. I remember the deep regret at how many people
had the Truth that could change everything about them and their lives
proclaimed to them…and how many of them never heard it? Never looked up? I feel a great burden to reach my peers. The level of hopelessness and confusion in
society today should be answered by the Church.
Are we doing all that we can to make the Lord known? I am not and I feel a heaviness on my
shoulders because of it.
Truth yelled into the wind may still be heard. It is a difficult calling and it tends to be
an uphill battle….but it is never a losing battle. What are we willing to do to show people that
Jesus saves?
