Winds

For parents, grandparents, and from a church that would love to make a positive difference, I have a statement.  Somebody will influence the young people (youth, kids, young adults) you love.  Who will that be?

I bring this message knowing that God desires every person on the face of the earth to hear and follow the Gospel.  This is a Wesleyan thing, informed by John 3:16 ("all who believe in Him") and John 3:17 ("for God did not send His Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it").  I think this is really good news, because I am all for God saving this fallen world we share, full of strife, war, conflict, division, and hate.  We need the beauty, grace, and peace of the Gospel.  But somebody doesn't want any of that.   Here are a few thoughts and a few nuggets of advice from God's word.

First, let's all remember that we have an enemy.  It is popular to believe there is no Satan, cosmic enemy, or conscious presence of evil in the world.  God's word disagrees.  "Stay alert!  Watch out for your great enemy, the devil.  He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8)."

Second, even when the message of God is preached and taught, we (the fickle people we are) are (as Moses would have said) stiff-necked.  The Old Testament term is a blend of pride, arrogance, and stubbornness.  In Acts 13 Paul and Barnabas preached the Gospel and the word of God spread, but there was serious opposition, especially from jealous Jews.  "They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region ((Acts 13:50)."

I give these examples because influences and influencers are all around us.  My friend, John Riley, talks about "influence" as "leadership."  I think he is right.  Those who influence us, lead us.

Over the past 2 weeks, I have had two things happen that show how God's people, good people, have chosen to allow themselves and our young ones to be influenced and led, not by the fresh wind of the Holy Spirit, but by the reckless winds of culture.

I read an article from the New Yorker (not exactly a bastion of conservatism).  It was about how we have been influenced (led) to believe that Cannabis (and all its derivatives) is safe.  The article went on to describe cases of psychosis, debilitating symptoms, and severe mental health repercussions that are related to Cannabis use.  By the way ... this is the recreational drug the media, much of the medical profession and a large segment of society have let themselves be convinced is "harmless."  We (culture) have been blown off course by the reckless wind of deception.

I also have seen many who have allowed the winds of influence to creep into their Sunday choices.  Facebook pictures of boating on the lake, absences so preparations can be made for hunting season, football, and one person asking about having sporting events on Sunday.  All of these choices are made by "good" people, but are these good choices and good "influences" for us and our kids/grandkids? Are our children stressed at an early age, all because we consider cultural conformity more important than spiritual maturity?  I hope you will consider these observations as "truth in love."  Maybe these are symptoms of something deeper.  Our children are frantic and busy to stay in the cultural norm, but is that norm healthy?  Are WE following the wind from Ephesians 4 ("tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching (Ephesians 4:14)") or the wild but faithful wind from John 3:8 (the wind of the Holy Spirit)?  We are choosing our leader ... our influencer ... and possibly our god.

There is a better way, my brothers and sisters!  And here it is.  We (the Church) follow the Holy Spirit and our leader Jesus.  Here are the results we can expect, straight from God's word ... "Then we will no longer be immature, like children.  We won't be tossed about by every wind of new teaching.  We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.  Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way to be like Christ, who is the head of the body, the church.  He makes the whole body fit together perfectly (Ephesians 4:14-16)!"

Which wind will you choose?  Which wind will you teach?  Will you fit the culture, or fit the Kingdom of God?