I was at a Bible study/get together for young adults a few weeks ago, and we began discussing how many millennials struggle with being faithful to anything. Our relationships, jobs, families, churches... the list goes on. As different people gave their input regarding the topic, I looked around the room. I looked at each individual person and tried to count how many of them had parents that had never been divorced.
Out of twenty-something people, I noticed that about half of us had parents that didn't finish their marriages. I also realized that for those of us with divorced parents, about half of us also only had one active parent in our lives.
I'm not someone who's against modernism. I love my cell phone and almost all things technology, but there are some things that were just better 20 years ago. People used to mean it when they said, "Until death do us part." Now it seems more like, "Until my boredom or hard times do us part."
Most of our grandparents have been in the same marriages all of their lives. Half of our parents aren't with their original spouses, and seemingly none of us can stay in a committed relationship. I see a trend that I honestly believe has affected everything in our lives- especially our relationships with God.
Something that my pastors and mentors are constantly reminding me of is, "Ministry begins at home." This simple phrase has taught me that what happens in your home- in that intimate place that only its inhabitants know about- can and will affect what happens outside of your home.
A lot of us haven't had a committed marriage modeled for us within the home, so we see commitment as optional. We feel like we can stick with something as long as its benefits outweigh its setbacks for the moment. That's where our struggle with faith comes in.
If I haven't learned how to be committed to someone that I can see (a spouse, friend, etc.), how am I supposed to be committed to a God who I've never seen?
If I was raised to think that I can do everything on my own, why would I try to depend on God for anything?
Dependency and commitment are such beautiful things. Let's not let those die out for the sake of saving face. Let's try harder for our future generations.
