Originally published Wednesday, 18 January 2012.
Unity. It often seems difficult to find…
The other day I logged onto Facebook and saw a very intense statement from an older pastor about a younger pastor’s unique style of preaching. The statement didn’t bother me; we are each entitled to our opinions. What happened in the comments is what was disturbing.
Unbeknownst to this pastor, his opinion sharing was very costly. As person after person agreed or disagreed with his statement, another line of generational separation in the Church was drawn.
As a 31-year-old, I’m sandwiched in-between two generations. I’ve seen both generations dishonor those who come before and those who come after.
It’s important as followers of Christ to honor our rich historical past, but we also need to be open to the movement of the Holy Spirit in our modern world.
I know there are going to be people in each generation we just can’t seem to support. Maybe their style rubs us the wrong way but does our negative vocal opinion about them really matter?
Generations who need Jesus to unify them are reading our tweets, Facebook statuses, and blogs. We have to know that our words about any and everything are being contemplated. [Ephesians 4:5] Let's be careful and think things through before a generational venting session.
If we believe the best has already come in one generation, we might as well hang it up and be done.
Just as great things have already been done, great things are still yet to be…
Great sermons are yet to be preached. Great books are yet to be written. Great movements of God have yet to happen.
When these two generations unite we will create an expectancy for God to do great things. Heaven help us if we miss being a part of these amazing things because of what really divides us … our sin.
There's nothing wrong with healthy discussions about generational disagreements in the Church. As we engage in these healthy conversations we can keep our motives for speaking out in line with scripture and Jesus. We do this by being respectful, making sure our facts are correct, speaking in love and emphasizing what we can agree on.
As we take these strides in each generation, we will be able to live out Romans 12:10, "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves."
Generational unification. I believe it's possible, do you?
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