During the course of 2019, I have observed a growing sense of hopelessness being felt and expressed by people across the globe, especially among teenagers. Climate change, political agendas and social uncertainties are cultivating a anxiety and despair. It is spilling over from social media and into our schools and onto our streets. My children’s school was so concerned about this that they wrote a letter to parents, urging us to address these matters in a calm and constructive manner.
It is spilling over from social media and into our schools and onto our streets. My children’s school was so concerned about this that they wrote a letter to parents, urging us to address these matters in a calm and constructive manner.
This year we have heard young people declaring that they won’t have families because of threats facing the globe. Even members of the British Royal family have also joined the chorus, announcing that they will have fewer children because of the perils posed by climate change.
It’s not just about climate change. Western societies are experiencing a rise in anti-Semitism; stories of sexual abuse rarely leave the headlines; the rise of intolerance. Our city streets are regularly clogged with protests. Once upon a time, we might see three or four such marches during the course of a year, but now it seems to happen almost every week.
The people protesting have also changed. There are fewer industry unions standing for the rights of the working class. The demonstrations are about sexual rights and the environment: save the planet, save animals, and kill the unborn. If that final inclusion sounds a little distasteful, that’s because it is. Children are now joining in these rallies in their thousands, skipping school to express dread and discouragement as they consider their future.
It’s a dangerous recipe. Passionate and desperate crowds are ripe for exploitation. For example, when Safe Schools was launched, its chief architect, Roz Ward, explained that the curriculum was designed to introduce Marxist thinking into our schools—in other words, to make them became pawns in a game of political subversion.
An Old Story
There is something particularly disturbing about witnessing a generation lose hope—but some perspective is in order. This is scarcely the first generation with reason to be anxious. The children of the last century had to contend with the trauma of the world wars; the Great Depression; the cold war with its continual threat of nuclear apocalypse. If we dig further back into biblical history, we see other generations living without hope: the Israelites enslaved in Egypt for 400 years; the exiles of Babylon—“They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’” (Ezekiel 37:11)
Millennials are not the first generation to face enormous life-changing obstacles. Nor are the problems they are worried about the real issue. Climate change, political divisions, environmental degradation and injustice are symptoms of a more ancient problem that we have afforded to ignore for far too long. There has been a cosmological battle taking place for millennia, and it is ultimately against the Creator, not the creation.
Is it surprising than this despair about the world rises as we exchange trust in God for formless spirituality or atheism? We can’t manage things on our own and we know it. The role of global saviour is too big a job for us to do on our own.
It is time to revisit the person of Jesus Christ—for most Australians now, it is time to get to know him for the very first time.
The Gospel of Matthew, declares that he is the one who will fulfil the prophecies of Isaiah: that he will be the one in whom “the nations will put their hope.” (Matt 12:21) Or, as Isaiah also prophesies directly:
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth … the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious. (Is 11:4,10)
Here are words of profound hope. Here is a person in whom we can rest our hope. Jesus wasn’t a virtue signaller. He came into a hostile world and to a people without hope. He demonstrated his divinity in the most powerful and loving ways. He chose to take a road to crucifixion. He was raised to life on the third day. He has ascended to heaven. He will hold the nations to account. He will hold all of us to account. He brings hope and healing, peace and reconciliation. Some churches have done a great job at confusing and even betraying these things, but the message stands the test of time. Even today there are millions of millennials turning to the Jesus—discovering in his gospel a hope they cannot find anywhere else.
We can’t survive without hope. Hope in the world or hope in humanity is an age-long route to despair. The world cannot rest on our shoulders or the shoulders of our children. You may doubt what I suggest, but at the very least, why not open a Bible to the Gospel of Luke or the Gospel of John, read and consider this hope before you discount him?
And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. (Romans 5:5)
This is an abridged version of a longer post from murraycampbell.net
