Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Make Sure You Do These Things . . .

Do you have a child, grown child, and/or grandchild who once believed in God, walked with Him, and was excited about their faith, but who now no longer believes? Or worse, who now says they are an atheist or agnostic? Do you have someone you love who is questioning their faith? You are not alone. In fact, according to Barna's studies, more young people from Gen Z (those born between 1997 and 2015) are turning away from their faith and to atheism at double the rate than any previous generation (https://www.barna.com/research/atheism-doubles-among-generation-z/) Yes double the rate.

So, what do we do? Do we just throw up our hands and give in to the loss of the ones we love? Of course not. But what do we do? Consider the following . . . 

Of course we must be people of prayer. We must make praying for them something we do - faithfully. Jesus said He came to draw all people to Him - this means those who do not yet believe and those who have wandered from Him. So, we need to pray and ask Him to draw the ones we love back to Him. He loves them even more than we do, so ask Him to draw them to Him.

We also need to live our faith. We must be genuine, faithful, believers. Jesus said loving God and others are the two most important things for us to do, so love God and others with your all. Make sure you are a person who lives what you believe - one who tells and believes the truth. One who allows the actual truth to influence what you say, what you do, what you post to social media. One who lives by the standard Jesus set - loving God and others.

Be like the father of the prodigal. Do not preach to the ones you love if they do not want to listen. But, be ready, and prepared, to have important conversations with them when they want to talk. Remember, as a grandparent or parent of a grown child you are not able to tell them what they "must" do or believe. Forcing them to "listen" will only drive them away. But, you are able to faithfully show love, live your faith, and be ready to have conversations when they want to do so.

Which brings me to the question, do you know how to answer their questions? If they ask you why they should believe God is real, God and science go together, God is good, and the Bible is true, do you know how to answer their questions? Remember, if they are questioning these things, you will need extra-Biblical answers or they will likely dismiss what you say. Do you know how to answer their questions? If not, get the book, the little answer book (you will find it at this link.) It is small, but addresses all these questions and provides answers, evidence, and strong logic - not for you to use to "preach" to the ones you love, but to help you have important conversations with them as they are willing to listen and talk.

So, if someone you love has turned away from faith, please know you are not alone and there are things you are able to do - make sure you are doing these things.

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