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Oct 13, 2024 18:00pm

Tell the Next Generation This

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The next generation needs us.

That sentence feels wrong. It feels more like the next generation doesn’t need anyone. They have AI. They have extreme “connectedness.” With the world in their hands, opportunities are seemingly limitless. They are more informed than any generation who has ever walked the planet earth.

What in the world could Gen Z or Gen Alpha (A) need from us?

Well, without getting too deep into the scary weeds, Gen Z is old enough for the research to be credible. Studies, worldwide, are showing they are desperate. Anxious. Depressed. And a growing number, suicidal. The statistics are overwhelming, Gen Z and Gen A will be defined in history vastly different from generations before.

At the risk of oversimplification, the birth of the smartphone changed everything. And while it seems they have everything at their fingertips, they can’t find anything to satisfy their souls.

But God.

For every generation, the answer has always been the same: a relationship with God is the answer for every human heart.

God is absolutely head over heels in love with Gen Z and Gen A. He pursues them. He sent Jesus to die to cover their sins and to redeem their lives for His glory. Jesus is forever above all and His mission has not lost any steam to technology. In fact, you’re reading this now because of it.

Though we live in a time of rapid change, spiritually, nothing has changed at all. No technology will ever be a satisfying substitute for a relationship with the one true God.

And the next generation needs to know this.

So, what do we do? Is there anything we can do?

Because God has called us to THIS generation.

Psalm 139:16 says, “In your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”

Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

God did not make a mistake and drop us into a generation unteachable and unreachable. Rather, impressively, He gives us timeless and eternal instruction in His word.

Interestingly, what I am learning now is how our influence on the next generation, our generation, actually begins with human thought. There is something powerful about thought which God desires and actually promotes in this word.

It may seem odd to even include this, but thinking is defined as “the process of using one’s mind to consider or reason about something. Thinking is both conscious and active.”

Thank you, Google.

Even more compelling is the contrast. Human thinking kind of flies in the face of technology, where the goal is for the device to do all the processing. But, especially in the Psalms, the writers are consistently engaging their minds, remembering and reflecting, specifically on what God has done and the impact his actions caused.

See, AI doesn’t know what God has done for you. Give it a try. Ask Chat GPT. What has God done for _______________ ? Open an AI browser and fill in the blank with your name.

I tried it. Here’s the exact quote from OpenAI Chatgpt, less my name:

“If you’re asking in a religious or spiritual sense, the answer would depend on _____________’s personal beliefs and experiences. In many religious traditions, people believe that God provides guidance, protection, blessings, and a sense of purpose. However, without specific details about ______________’s life, it would be difficult to say what she believes God has done for her personally.”

Personally. Specifically. Individually. Only you can know what God has done for you.

What a powerful distinction for every believer!

But it doesn’t stop there.

According to the Bible, there is purpose for the thinking and the uniqueness of your relationship with God.

In Psalm 48, for example, there are three beautiful reasons laid out for thinking about what God has done in your life:

To PRAISE.

“Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised.” Verse 1.

To DEFINE who God is and what He is like.

“Within her citadels, God has made himself known as a fortress.” Verse 3.

The writer goes on to explain exactly how God made himself known as a fortress, what he did and where.

To TELL the next generation.

“Walk about Zion, go around her, number her towers, consider well her ramparts, go through her citadels, that you may tell the next generation that this is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever.” Verse 12-14.

We recognize the burden and necessity of passing on our faith but, we don’t exactly know what will “impress” a generation with the world at their fingertips. Might I suggest we struggle to feel like we have anything to offer Gen Z and Gen A because we simultaneously struggle to verbalize who God is and to freely give Him praise.

So, our impact is too small.

Because our praise is too weak.

And our praise is too weak because we don’t think.

Worse, we all but refuse to take time to behold, to consider, to walk around and go and examine and look and list and number the miracles and the actions and see clearly the things God has done. We simply can’t define, in a personal way, how God has made himself known to us because we “can’t find the time” to think.

And that’s a serious problem for the next generation.

We must become believers who easily and passionately proclaim “As we have heard, so have we seen…” Psalm 48:8.

So, take some time.

How has God made Himself known to you?

What did you hear and then experience, making what you heard about God become real? And did you offer praise in response?

When we intentionally take time to pause our lives and think on God, we are always led to praise. The fire of our relationship with him begins to burn hot again as we circle back around to his goodness and his love.

And we end up with something to say.

Something meaningful, something personal, something moving about what God has done and who He truly is and THAT is what we tell the next generation.