Today's TLA is TTA
Time Twixter article
Ok I don't exactly know when this article first appeared, but I have been thinking about this Time magazine article for a while. I started thinking about my generation. Why is my generation so self-absorbed? Why are most of my friends trying to find out who and what they really want to be? Don't we realize that who and what we want to be is constantly changing and it can never really be defined. Yet who and what we want to be is infinitely possible. What is success? What is failure? Why do these definitions define our generation? Why is everyone afraid to commit? Why are we so afraid of the unknown? Where is God in our generation? Who is God to our generation? Does God even come up with our daily self-absorbed culture? Is our generation scared of God?
It is very interesting, because my claim is that our generation and in fact all of God's generations needs to focus on God and his Word (The Bible). The focus is not money, not personal success, not financial success, not political success, not a big house, not cars, not things, not any of these things. But simply God as life's current focus. The article claims that a big part of being an "adult" is financial independence. Well then, by that definition there are a lot of "twixters" in their 30's, 40's, and even 50's trying to grow into the "adult" world. Reading this article just made me want to pray for my generation.
I think our generation wants to do God's will. We want to do good, but trivial worldly things make the reality of doing good for God difficult and unknown. It was not until I was researching Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) for an art piece I am creating that I realized that God needs to be involved within the "twixter" generation's lives. I came upon this article called "The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life"
I have never read this speech from MLK before, but I really like it. I have read his "I have a dream speech," but this speech really responds to our generation's dilemma constructed within the Time Magazine article. It is a good sermon about a life of length, breadth and depth. This sermon explains the three people we have to deal within the world i.e. self (length), the other man (breadth), and most importantly God (depth). For me the following paragraph really sums up his points well.
"But don't stop here either. (No, sir) You know, a lot of people master the length of life, and they master the breadth of life, but they stop right there. Now if life is to be complete, we must move beyond our self-interest. We must move beyond humanity and reach up, way up for the God of the universe, whose purpose changeth not.
(Right)"
There is so much truth in his words. I think our generation could clear up a lot of angst, worry, and limited thinking about our current trivial lives if we read MLK's speech on a complete life. MLK's speech validates my earlier claim in the beginning of this blog. Not thing centric, not self centric, but God centric.
Enjoy,
Jonathan
Time Twixter article
Ok I don't exactly know when this article first appeared, but I have been thinking about this Time magazine article for a while. I started thinking about my generation. Why is my generation so self-absorbed? Why are most of my friends trying to find out who and what they really want to be? Don't we realize that who and what we want to be is constantly changing and it can never really be defined. Yet who and what we want to be is infinitely possible. What is success? What is failure? Why do these definitions define our generation? Why is everyone afraid to commit? Why are we so afraid of the unknown? Where is God in our generation? Who is God to our generation? Does God even come up with our daily self-absorbed culture? Is our generation scared of God?
It is very interesting, because my claim is that our generation and in fact all of God's generations needs to focus on God and his Word (The Bible). The focus is not money, not personal success, not financial success, not political success, not a big house, not cars, not things, not any of these things. But simply God as life's current focus. The article claims that a big part of being an "adult" is financial independence. Well then, by that definition there are a lot of "twixters" in their 30's, 40's, and even 50's trying to grow into the "adult" world. Reading this article just made me want to pray for my generation.
I think our generation wants to do God's will. We want to do good, but trivial worldly things make the reality of doing good for God difficult and unknown. It was not until I was researching Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) for an art piece I am creating that I realized that God needs to be involved within the "twixter" generation's lives. I came upon this article called "The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life"
I have never read this speech from MLK before, but I really like it. I have read his "I have a dream speech," but this speech really responds to our generation's dilemma constructed within the Time Magazine article. It is a good sermon about a life of length, breadth and depth. This sermon explains the three people we have to deal within the world i.e. self (length), the other man (breadth), and most importantly God (depth). For me the following paragraph really sums up his points well.
"But don't stop here either. (No, sir) You know, a lot of people master the length of life, and they master the breadth of life, but they stop right there. Now if life is to be complete, we must move beyond our self-interest. We must move beyond humanity and reach up, way up for the God of the universe, whose purpose changeth not.
(Right)"
There is so much truth in his words. I think our generation could clear up a lot of angst, worry, and limited thinking about our current trivial lives if we read MLK's speech on a complete life. MLK's speech validates my earlier claim in the beginning of this blog. Not thing centric, not self centric, but God centric.
Enjoy,
Jonathan
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