"I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish He didn't trust me with so much."
Mother Teresa
We evangelize every day. Deliberately or not, consciously or not, we are evangelizers. The question is, what are we evangelizing about? What kind of Jesus are we teaching to others?
One of the most frequent ways that we evangelize about the truth is by genuinely living true faith, especially during hardships, in sight of those who are inexperienced at relying upon God. If we deal with problems without true faith, our behavior teaches others that God is not reliable and that he doesn't actually care.
It's not our words that make a difference; it's what our lives say. It's the message implied in our responses to everything that happens to us during the day. Jesus asks: "Who do YOU say that I am?" Did he mean, "Who do you SAY that I am?" as if he were more concerned about what comes out of our lips than out of our lives?
All too often, our words say one thing and our behavior another. People don't believe our words if our lives don't prove their validity. They can sense when our faith is not authentic. So let's start the unworded interrogation:
"Who do you say Jesus is? Who is he for you? How real is he for you? Is he everything that you tell me he is? Why should I obey the teachings of the Church when you haven't bothered to see if you can get an annulment after your divorce? Why should I trust God if you tell me you pray and yet you worry so much?"
You know what my pastor said one day that was pretty well...in your face. He was talking about all this gays in the church crap, during the sermon he said, you know I will tell all the gays to stay out and lets also kick out all the fornicating singles too... the point was that there would only be about 12 married people let inside the building, and hopefully those couples aren't cheating, or swinging, or deceiving his wife because he likes to be humiliated by a mistress. We all sin. We are all guilty of something every single day. So why come to church? To get better and learn and grow. Great point huh? Lets lock out all the sinners! He did say to not come in here recuiting people to gay, but hey...how many people go to church just for lust in looking for a pretty, young "innocent" girl?
What young people are looking for are authentic examples of God. Teenagers and young adults are in transition, moving from childhood's unquestioning acceptance of their parents' faith into an adult ownership of their own faith. They are "chadults"...all my friends know my made up words...no longer children but not yet true adults until they own the responsibilities of adulthood. This phase might last many years. It's hampered by every Christian they meet. And since we're all imperfect examples of what God is like, we shouldn't wonder why our youth stray from what we've taught them about faith.
Rebellion is strong during the chadult years. But, young people are not looking for ways to reject true faith. What they're seeking is proof that the faith they learned truly...well... true, truly safe to continue believing, truly worth building an adult life upon. And every person they encounter in the Church who fails to be Christ-like sends them off seeking God in other directions. The good news is: Our repentance from sin is a powerful way to show them authentic faith, the truth of God's mercy, and a faith worth believing.
He wants us back! Watch this great video on it.
