Mankind continues to provide conditions for the perpetuation of a culture and generation of growing sceptics.
Little, if anything these days, passes by without the presence of some doubt, suspicion, or uncertainty. The number of organizations and individuals that have failed to maintain their moral and ethical commitments is disillusioning. Within the last decade who hasn’t been negatively impacted by the failure of corporations, governments, and even religious institutions? We can’t help but become sceptics; it’s difficult to trust when everything around you proves to be untrustworthy.
Sceptics are everywhere and in some respects I have become one myself. Not that I don’t want to believe. In fact, if you look at the recent election of Barack Obama it is evident that many people are also wanting to believe in something, desperately seeking a change in the status quo, searching for a hope that they can count on.
And, scepticism has not eluded the Church. People’s view of the Church and Christianity has slipped beyond scepticism to apathy. Several degrees worse than disagreement is, “I don’t care anymore.”
A significant element of what we choose to believe in or not believe in is based upon our experience. Whether it’s a relationship, a political group, a leader, a Christian, a church, a parent…over time I build expectations that are either lived up to or lived down to. I move beyond a healthy scepticism that allows me to question and consider what I should believe, to an unhealthy distrust of all things that represent that which I have now determined by experience to be untrustworthy.
I’m concerned about this on two levels. First, there is a segment of the population that simply don’t care. They believe there is no truth and thus no real long–term hope. Second, those who do care and continue to search are finding very little in the way of satisfactory answers.
I have a burden for what I have coined a lost generation. I’m not placing specific ages on this generation because I believe it has become a cultural reality as much as a specific demographic characteristic. My burden is for people who are seeking truth and not finding it, walking through life with a sense of hopelessness and apathy for what life is all really about. You and I live and work with these searching people, many of whom don’t feel Christianity or the Church has relevant answers. They consider religion to be a part of the problem. You know these people, you interact with them often, and you may even live with them, so you know the frustration and the angst.
This is why the Word of God is so vitally important. His Word is the key to moving sceptics of faith to knowing a trustworthy God. This year Insight for Living Canada is beginning a focus on communicating directly to this lost generation, talking about the real and relevant issues of life that we all face today, and engaging the Word so it speaks to our lives and our living. My prayer is God will provide us with the ability to make a difference. Within this publication we will begin a new feature called LifeTrac. I encourage you to pass Insights on to others you think might need a new glimpse of hope and truth.
There is no need to journey through this world without hope or apathy. God is real. His Word is truth and it is relevant today, yesterday, and for eternity. So let us place our trust in those things that don’t fail and extend grace to those people—like us—who do.
Our prayer is as Jesus prayed in John 17:17, “Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth,” (NLB).
Join us in this journey of truth.
