Millennial Christians And The Old Ball Coach

9Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11“The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12‘I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ 13“And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ 14“I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Luke 18: 9 - 14 NKJV

I heard a graduation speech from Lou Holtz recently that got me to thinking.  In his speech the old ball coach told those graduates assembled before him that they would indeed face challanges in life, that was to be expected.  However, one line from his talk stuck with me.  In telling the students to keep a possitive attitude, Holtz that not only would 90% of the people they would come across not care about that their problems, but that the other 10% would blame God!  Now, Lou Holtz is neither a prophet nor a mind reader, but he damn sure can coach football.  However, I know these words of his to be true because I have seen them in action in others and in myself.  When that rubber hits the road, when the storms of life come raging we all too often feel like Jesus is in the back of our boat sleeping oblivious to all we are experiencing!  Of course, I know this to be false, but back in the day I had no problem seperating Christ from my own life.  I can recall many a time when my first response to lifes troubles was to question my heavenly Fathers motives.  Folks, this is something I have began to refer to as "millennial christianity."  We all have heard of these millennials, and some of us may even know a few of them.  That dude sitting in the local coffee shop waiting for that million dollar a year job to knock on his door...millennial.  That person who places the blame for all of the nations problems upon the wealthy and corporations...millennial.  I wish that I would be invited at some point to make a graduation speech.  After laying some truth down, I'm afraid I wouldn't be invited back.  What is the truth?  Well, for starters, life is inherently unfair...deal with it.  Yes, there will always be those who make more money than you, know more than you and, in most cases, get away with more than you ever will.  Does this mean that God is somehow punishing you for your position in life?  NO!  First off, that whole idea of a angry God who punishes His children for the slightest mishap is rooted in old covenant thinking and we're dead to that now.  These are the days of the new covenant of Christ Jesus living through those who have accepted Him {Galations 2:20}.  Yes, we ARE Jesus.

3For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.
Romans 12: 3 - 5 NKJV

In Jesus' parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector we find in Luke 18, the Pharisee stands proudly in the temple while praying, "God, I thank you that I am not like other men - extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even this tax collector."  I'm thinking that we could rename the prayer of this Pharisee the millennials prayer.  God, look at me and all that I've accomplished!  Really?  This is the error in the thinking of the independent self which is what seperates us from God.  It is not God who created His seperation with us, He's always been there.  On the contrary, we ourselves created our own seperation with God by our false belief in our independent selves.  That belief that we ourselves are responsible for all that we do, accomplish and experience.  Really?  Tell me again where the creator of ALL the universe fits into this way of thinking.  The very resaon that the independent self thinking is in error is because it is false.  For everything we will ever be we have from God.  To me, pride runs rampant in the millennial ranks.  Some are foolish enough to believe the lie perpetrated by satan {Genesis 3:4-5}.  I would suggest that we stop making ourselves more important than we ought and start seeing God as He is.  It's not about us, but all about Christ Jesus in us.  Of course, we may just offend a few millennial christians along the way.

"Don't tell other people about your problems.  Ninety percent don't care and the other ten percent will blame God."
Lou Holtz

~Scott~