Underestimated

   "Kids these days," people often say. "They can't seem to do anything right." Now if you just read that and were at all offended, chances are you're probably around my age. If so, then welcome to the club. And by the club, I mean the "kids these days" club, the group of crazy, hormonal savages that will one day rule this world. If you're an adult, then more than likely you've said those words as you've watched the present generation wreak havoc on everything in their path. Your parents said it about you, and their parents said it about them. I'd even be willing to bet that Adam and Eve said it about Cain and Abel (and we all know how that turned out!) At first thought, this seems completely unfair. I mean, why should we get a bad rap because we're the current group of young people? What did we do to deserve being told that we aren't as good as the people that came before us? The truth is that now more than ever teens and young adults are being underestimated by the people around us. And when we already feel like the world is out to get us, it can really have a negative effect on the way we see the people we're supposed to look up to.

    Now before I go on, let me take a minute to clear something up. While I do believe that being underestimated can cause "kids these days" to harbor resentment toward their elders, I definitely don't think that it gives us the right to disrespect them. Regardless of what happens or what is said, God calls the young people who are His children to give honor and respect to everyone we meet, especially those who are older and wiser than we are. But at the same time, He wants us to stand up for ourselves as His Followers. Now I don't know about you, but I know for a fact that our generation as a whole is not one that lives for Christ. Every day we encounter things that our parents never dreamed of being exposed to when they were our age. Even those of us who choose not to participate in those things, those of us who are all-around decent kids get lumped in with the rest. And if we are brave enough to take a stand for what we believe in, we are often misunderstood and even underestimated by our own peers. We may be thought of as spoiled, disrespectful children, and maybe we are, but in terms of feeling out of place in a world that takes pride in the hollow and meaningless, believers growing up in the year 2015 have it pretty hard. We feel safe with our closest friends and in the walls of the church, but when it comes time to "go and make disciples", we don't even know where to start.

     Sometimes being underestimated by others can in turn make us underestimate ourselves. I'll admit, when I began writing this, I was in one of those late-night pensive moods where all I saw was the bad things going on around me, and because of this I underestimated the power of my own generation, pegging us as a sorry group of wrongdoers. When looking down on ourselves as a whole, we become fearful of the future, and long to salvage all that we see as good and familiar while others retain control of the "more important" things in life. Well, unfortunately, the world doesn't work that way. Someday, we will be those adults saying that "kids these days" just can't seem to figure it out. But here's the thing: we may have a reputation to precede us, but that doesn't mean we have to take it lying down. Our generation may look a little out of shape on the exterior, and it'll always be that way for the most part, but that doesn't mean it's just completely ruined all the way through. As young believers, we are the true heart of our generation whether others want to realize it or not. Because we are eternal. There will come a day when the old will pass away and our Lord will take dominion over the earth. And those of us who believe in Him will never again be underestimated. But until that day comes, remember this. We who believe are to be a light unto the world, no matter our age or our reputation. 1 Timothy 4:12 says, "Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity." Our generation as a whole doesn't have the best reputation right now. But individual character is what is truly important because it's completely real. As I mentioned in my last post, I'm the type of person who likes to talk to lots of people of all ages. And I see in the actions of those closest to me that our generation really does have some amazing people in it. We just have to be willing to share that with others in the way we live every day. The only way to get rid of a long-standing reputation is to prove it wrong. And the more we open up to the people around us, the more they'll see that in every generation there's always going to be a few bad seeds. But there's also some good ones that grow together by the grace of God into something beautiful.