Beginnings
Endless. Always. Conversations over far too many cups of coffee at an all night diner, Facebook chats, late night walks with close friends; these are where I learn more than I ever could in a classroom or from a pulpit. From these I know where you, I, we are. We are a generation that is passionate, searching, hoping, for something, anything. We are a generation looking to spread justice, peace and love. We are a generation who doesn’t even have the slightest clue where to begin. We’ve tried voting for the right political candidates, but more often than not are disappointed in the lack of progress. We are a generation who has left the church only to be drawn back and succinctly placed on a random committee. We give our money to charities only to find out that our money went straight into someone’s pocket. We are angry at God, the church, our parent’s greed, our own apathy.
But where do we begin? There are so many good causes that we can and do devote ourselves to, only to find that it didn’t really make a difference. We go to a protest one week only to see people protest against it the next weekend. We avoid Wal-Mart, ride our bikes, try to stay away from factory farmed meat, only to see another new shopping center going up on the next block. We go on mission trips with our churches and leave feeling like there is so much more that could have been done. Mostly we are waiting for someone, a prophetic voice calling us to a righteous cause, bringing us to the frontlines of injustice and giving us a reason to fight. We are waiting for a St. Anthony of the desert, a Martin Luther King Jr., a Ghandi, or Mother Theresa.
We are longing to become something more than ourselves, we only need something worth sacrificing for, we’ve seen other generations trying to change things only to get sucked into the system, becoming CEOs or aging stoner burnouts. We feel ashamed or even selfish saying that the American dream and the current institutional structure, even within the Church, are not enough. We are a generation longing to be holy, longing to be real, longing to be alive.
We are a generation of Pinocchios waiting to be made real boys. Guess what sweethearts? It ain’t gonna happen that easy.
In the call to follow Christ we are inherently called to give up ourselves, our hopes, our dreams. I know that we’re ready, just waiting. Stop waiting, give yourselves over to the whirlwind of divine love, if that means giving up a solid job or using the money from that job, if that means giving up relationships, friendships, stability, it is a sacrifice to God. I don’t know what God is calling you to, but you won’t find it on the internet, on television, or on your iPod. God has and always will work most through the brokenhearted, the downtrodden, the weak, the poor. May our stability rest only in the deep darkness of our God.
See more devotions from Luke and our other Young Adult writers, or find our how you can become a writer yourself at our By Young Adults for Young Adults devotion page.