How do I impact the world for Christ and His Kingdom?
How do I become who God has created me to be?
What is the most effective way to lead those I know into a deeper fellowship with God?
How do I get lasting good to come out of my life?
What is my purpose?
How do I live each day to its fullest potential?
I've got a lot of questions.
Sometimes, they wear me out and depress me. For, they remind me how I haven't been acutely focused and single-mindedly driven. Oftentimes, I feel like my life is blurring by through all the "dailies" that I do from school and housework to church and babysitting. I feel that I've been floating through life lackadaisically by just functioning through the blur and never taking the time to straighten my priorities and focus my goals. Those questions reveal that I have been just functioning, not thriving.
Further, those questions are hard. I'm lazy.
"Ahhh, I'll figure out my life's ultimate purpose, create my action plan for living each day fully, and start changing the world ... tomorrow. 'Cause all I really wanna do right now is go on Facebook ..."
All I wanna do.
When I look at teenagers and then back at my own self, I see a generation disgustingly shallow and selfish.
"Ohhh that looks cool; let's try it!" we say.
"Wow, that movie looks epic; we are so going to see it."
"Humm, what should I wear today? Wait, what is she gonna be wearing?"
We care only about the next thing that gives us immediate pleasure. Really searching our hearts and learning to serve and sacrifice are not priorities.
Instead, we're a generation of let's-look-cool & classy-and-go-party. Because, after all, it is all about me looking cool and having fun.
YOLO, right?
(Come on, man.)
Drifting in such a manner day to day and simply floating by on what's happening - the latest look, sweetest movie, next get together - what are we accomplishing for eternity? ... zero. We are consuming just about whatever brings us pleasure, and in turn producing what things that are biblically emphasized? ... (anything come to mind?)
That's what I thought.
We're a generation asleep.
Remaining drowsy in our shallow mind frame that is only concerned with being cool, being fun, and being known, we are missing our destiny. Reclining in our car on the path of ease, we are being carried wherever the highway bends, and we are being molded by our laziness.
Yet, we are made to mold.
We are made for so much more.
As we sit, making sure our outfits are thoroughly hipster and laughing at "How Animals Eat Their Food" on YouTube, we are wasting a lifetime.
We're just drowsily drifting along,
having fun.
In reality, we are purposeless.
Yet, are we not created for so much more? That epic movie, did it not evoke your desire to see a little more of that same epicness in your own life? That book's characters, they made you want to chase those dreams of yours again despite crazy odds. That YouTube video, it made you desire to create something that, being bigger than yourself, will span across the world.
But day after day, we do our school, sit on the couch, scan the internet while chatting friends, and take self-portraits to post to Facebook so everyone knows just how cool we are. We find the cutest thing to pin on Pinterest and perfect our appearance so we are just totes adorbs.
Come on, man.
Shallow. Self-centered. Asleep.
"Awake, awake, O Zion, clothe yourself with strength. Put on your garments of splendor, O Jerusalem, the holy city ... Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, O Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck, O captive Daughter of Zion" Isaiah 52:1-2
Awake, awake.
We are made for so much more than our current state.
We are God's chosen people who are called by His name, called to be holy, called to seek His face, and called to change the world.
Generation, it's time to wake up.
Life it ticking by.
Opportunities are fading.
People are graduating and moving away and, before you know it, you will be too.
Your life will never be this exact way again.
You have chance for good today. You can ease a pain, share a smile, lend a hand, plant the hope.
But, you must decided to do it.
Effort. Sacrifice. Dedication.
You've got to decide what you're living for before the chance to live is gone.
Generation, it's time to wake up.
Make your stance and fight.
The big questions are out there in this very big world.
(But, we've got a God who is bigger than the world; in fact, He's overcome it).
Let's face them.
I say no to our cultural drowsiness. Frankly, I shout "no!"
We've got to tackle the hard things and face life head on, for, as children of God, we are created for a grander purpose.
"Awake, awake, O Zion, clothe yourself with strength. Put on your
garments of splendor, O Jerusalem, the holy city ... Shake off your
dust; rise up, sit enthroned, O Jerusalem. Free yourself from the
chains on your neck, O captive Daughter of Zion" Isaiah 52:1-2
Generation, it's time to wake up.
Let's change the world.
Who's with me?
© 2013 Deborah Hope Shining
