Breaking Away From The Spirit of This Generation

This morning my reflection is on an interesting set of verses found in the Gospels where Jesus was speaking about the generation of people, and their general dissatisfaction.  Here are the verses - Luke 7:31-35 NIV:

[31] "Jesus went on to say, “To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? [32] They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other: “

'We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.'

[33] For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.' [34] The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.' [35] But wisdom is proved right by all her children.”

Normally this is a set of verses I read quickly and move on, but this morning my heart was drawn to them, and I saw something I haven't seen before, so I thought I would reflect some more on what Jesus was saying here.  Jesus uses an analogy to describe the generation, and it was one of children being dissatisfied with every response from others.  The played a pipe and the others wouldn't dance, they played a dirge and they wouldn't mourn, in other words they couldn't get the others to do what they wanted!  It is actually a pretty normal behavior in children, wanting to have things their way, and in this case Jesus said this childish and selfish attitude represented the people of that generation.

As I was thinking about this, many of the marketing messages we have today came to mind, as we are constantly told that we can have things our way!  We have fast food chains whose marketing jingles have reflected this emphasis, coffee vendors who specialize in individual orders,  clothing and apparel companies who focus on our desire to have exactly what we want to celebrate our uniqueness, even car companies telling us how their cars will set us free, and enable us to do what we want when we want.  Again, this is not that unusual, and seems to be one of the outstanding features of this generation, celebrating our uniqueness and ability to have things the way we want them.

Jesus, though, was directing their gaze through their worldview into faith, and that was my real insight this morning.  I recently went through a season of looking for a new church, and found that I was very picky about what I was looking for! I know many who struggle with this same thing and this morning I felt like the Lord just shed some insight. While in the process, I found myself focused on the things I didn't like. I didn't like the worship in one place, the preaching in another, the way people treated us in another, or how worship was so choreographed in another.  I was so busy picking apart the experience looking at the things I didn't like, that it took me a while to start asking the right questions, like where God wanted me to connect, or what was the Lord doing in the place and what I might add?  I was so concerned about wanting church to be my way, I forgot that church is about being connected to His body so that I might be a part of what the Lord is doing!  Our individualized, selfish perspective does not serve us well in seeking the Lord nor in seeking where the Lord would have us connect to His body.

In the case cited by Jesus, John came calling them to repentance, but people rejected his message because they didn't like his radical life-style, and passed him off as having a demon.  It was easier to cast judgment on him than it was to look into their own lives and recognize the need for repentance.  Jesus came, embracing sinners, loving them and extending relationship and salvation to them, and people rejected Him because he didn't seem holy enough!  He actually hung out with bad people, and He also said things that challenged the status-quo.  Again, it was easier to reject Him than it was to allow His teaching and example to lead them to change.  In both cases, God was moving and the people wanted nothing to do with His movement as it required change, and maybe repentance (changing our thinking and actions) and that clearly wasn't what they wanted.

The question in my mind this morning, is how often I have rejected the invitation of the Lord to step into the things He is doing, because I didn't want to change, or was too judgmental in my attitude or self-focus?  Have I allowed my desire for comfort and my desire to have things my way derail me from the very move of God?  Have I rejected God's word for me because I didn't like the messenger?  Have I been so focused on what I want, that I forgot to ask what God wanted of me?

Oh Lord, forgive me of my selfish focus and my judgmental ways! Help me to embrace Your move in my life, and help me to embrace the change that might be required.  Help us all to accept Your invitation to join You in Your ways and actions all around us!  Help me to see anyway in which I allowing my self-focus to cause me to miss out on what You are desiring to do! Help me ot break away from the spirit of this generation!

Amen!