The Photoshop Generation

Many of you know that I have recently become more involved in youth ministry. For some reason that I really don't understand my favorite part of this ministry is praying with students. It's not easy, in fact it is incredibly challenging to know what to say and when and perhaps that's why most people who work in youth and children ministries shy away from altar work. As I have prayed with more young people lately I have found a recurring theme. Many young people tell me they doubt not only their personal salvation but the existence of God entirely. Bear in mind, I'm not just talking about the "sinner kids", I'm talking about the ones who have grown up in church. The ones who were drug there on Sunday mornings, Sunday nights, Wednesday nights, and any other time doors were open. So the question becomes "How can kids grow up in God's house and yet doubt His existence?"

I am a part of what I would like to call the Photoshop Generation. My generation and those following live in a world in which almost anything can be fabricated. When was the last time you saw a picture on Facebook or on a website proclaiming a miracle that you actually believed was authentic? I assume everything is photoshopped. I assume everything is altered. My generation has grown up in a world where most prominent ministers seem to perform miracles for money. We watch men and women on Christian programming point at the camera with their hands dripping in diamonds and their wrists adorned with expensive watches saying "if you just had enough faith to send in your last hundred dollars to the number at the bottom of the screen God would see your faith and heal you." We are an incredibly cynical generation and perhaps it's not completely our fault.

In the bible God used miracles as a way to get people's attention and prove His power and existence. Maybe if we saw miracles and believed them to be real we wouldn't have such a hard time believing in this all-powerful God. But that is the problem. Our cynicism makes it almost impossible to believe. So perhaps we need to change our definition of what a miracle is. If God wanted to part the seas today like He did in the Old Testament He could, but we would assume it was caused by a machine pumping water out. If He wanted to speak through burning bushes He could, but we would check it for speakers.

Perhaps my generation needs to realize that there are miracles all around us. When an alcoholic gives his life to Christ and never takes another drink, that is a miracle. When a woman finds the strength in Christ to give up a promiscuous lifestyle, that is a miracle. When a teenager gives her burdens to Jesus and stops cutting herself, that is a miracle. I am asking you to join with me in praying for my generation and those behind me that God would reveal Himself in a mighty way to them. I am asking you to pray that He opens their eyes to His work all around them. And most importantly, I am asking you to be transparent and share the miracles He has done in your own life. We are made over-comers by the word of our testimony, and it is time for the church to over-come. Let God use you to show us that He is working miracles everyday, genuine miracles that cannot be replicated, duplicated, or photoshopped.