Does anyone ever have the false assumption that it’s someone else’s turn? I do. Does anyone ever feel like the dial on their motivation is in the red zone? I do. Is the Holy Spirit active in your life as he fulfills what the Lord has called you to do? Or do you feel like He has gone dormant?
One respondent to our “Your Participation Matters!” questionnaire said clearly what most of the people over sixty said:
“There are so many people in our generation who have stopped growing, stopped giving to others, and are stuck, confident they have all the answers. We Boomers have a lot more learning ahead in order to be faithful to what the Lord wants from us.”
What does the Lord want from us? He wants us to move out on His command — to represent His Voice to those who do not know Him, to those who are anxious and lonely, knowing they are connected to the global environment, but knowing very few people who genuinely care for them. God wants us to turn the grace given to us and give it out to others, not necessarily like an evangelist, but through creating a relationship, where we come alongside, listen, and walk together because we genuinely care.
Just as the Lord clearly tells us what he does not want from us:
“I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked” (Revelation 3:15-17).
“Wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked” … that’s quite an inditement upon a group of believers. And the tragedy is, if it’s true, we rarely are aware of it. That is, until we thirst to be revived, a thirst that can only be quenched by the Holy Spirit.
That is when we hear Jesus say, “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends” (Revelation 3:20).
What a surprise. As an evangelical from childhood, I was always led to believe Revelation 3:20 was for unbelievers. Aside from John 3:16, it was the most commonly used verse in evangelistic appeals, as in, “Jesus is knocking on the door of your heart. Why don’t you let Him in?” When in actuality, it is spoken to spiritually lukewarm believers. It is directed at you and me. It is talking about revival. We need to sit down to dinner with Jesus. We need to share a meal together as friends. We need to get close again. We need to be revived. We need to be reintroduced to the grace given to us and stimulated to want to give it out to others.
Says one Boomer in his “Your Participation Matters!” questionnaire response: “We can’t give what we don’t have. Speak directly to us Boomers and minister to us. We have to stop trying to chase relevance by placing unspoken expectations upon the shoulders of the younger generation. We must become humble. What causes us not to be? Hard hearts from years of hurt, betrayal, abandonment and feeling left behind. We have made an idol out of our past and the “way it used to be.” Those should only be monuments to what God did. When our past becomes an idol, it causes us to chase relevance. When our past becomes a monument to what God has done, it causes us to lay down our sword and to wash some feet. The Boomer generation needs a revival deep within. It needs to be revived.”
Join us tomorrow night as we come together to be re-introduced to the grace given to us — to sit down to dinner with Jesus — to be close to Him so that we might clearly hear the voice of Christ.
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