Is Faithfulness Really Dead?  And Did the Millenials Kill It?

Full disclosure — I was born in 1979.  By most definitions of Millenials, I’m not included.  However, being on the cusp means that people my age or just about the same age as me are uber-judgmental about Millenials.  We tend to find as many ways as possible to distance ourselves from “them” and “their” ways.

Below you’ll find the predicted Google results that begin with “millenials are.”  I doubt that you’ll be surprised.

So they’re lazy, the worst, stupid, entitled, and broke.  The tree things on the list that aren’t necessarily negative are things that can be interpreted negatively.  They’re foodies — meaning that they’re picky about what they eat and they’re very smug when others eat things they deem “unworthy” (not to mention the constant photos of food on social media!).  They’re the most educated generation — meaning that even though lots of them go to college, they still don’t have jobs, don’t have good life-skills, and still live with their parents.  And they’re not lazy — meaning that Millenials have been stacking the search results by looking for ways to prove they aren’t lazy…”The lady doth protesteth too much.”

But here’s the truth.  Millenials are not better or worse than any other generation.  But every single generation ever has thought that they’re better than the ones younger than it.  This is called “juvenoia” and we all fall victim to it if we aren’t intentional.

But still, one of the things that people my age and older always say about Millenials is that they lack in faithfulness — they’re flaky.  They don’t keep their word, they’re always late, and the can’t be trusted.

But here’s some more truth.  Is this lack of faithfulness a Millenial problem or a human one?  The answer is easy.  It’s a human problem.

Want proof?  Look in the mirror and let’s be honest with ourselves.  Whatever age we happen to be we have ditched a commitment because something we’d rather do came up.  And I’m sure that we’re more late to things than we’d like to admit.  And if people knew who we really were on the inside, then they’d never, ever trust us!

And here’s some more proof: Faithfulness is a fruit of the Spirit.  Note than in Galatians 5 the Apostle Paul doesn’t say that faithfulness is the fruit of trying harder, more experience, or good intentions.  Nope.  He says that faithfulness is produced through the work of the Spirit.

So no matter what generation we’re a part of, even the much-heralded “Greatest Generation,” none of us can develop faithfulness on our own.

A Faithfulness How-To

So what do we do then?  Wallow?  Embrace our flakiness?

No!  Instead let’s follow Paul’s advice in Galatians 5: let’s walk with the Spirit and be led by the Spirit.  But how?

1. Be indwelt.  When Jesus is our Lord, we are filled with the Spirit.  And this reality isn’t something that comes and goes.  Instead, once the Spirit comes to live with us, he’s with us forever!  We have intimate access to the divine life at all times!  How cool is that!
2. Get acquainted.  The Spirit indwells us but we still need to get to know him.  We can do this by learning about him in the Bible (which he’ll help us do!), meeting him within Christian community (since other followers of Jesus are indwelt by him too!), and by experiencing him in our lives (by doing #3 below!).  Over time we’ll know him better and better and our desires will bend to become more and more like his!
3. Obey.  Ugh.  What a dirty word.  When I was in seminary some of my classmates told me that they hated the song “Trust and Obey.”  Here’s a line: “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus…”  The word “happy” is a bit weird, but without obedience what’s the point of following Jesus and being indwelt by the Holy Spirit?  If all we have to do is to pursue what we like best, then why bother with all this God-stuff at all?  The truth is that in order for the fruit of the Spirit (such as faithfulness) to develop in us, we must obey the Spirit who indwells us.
4. Share.  Lastly, if we want to be more faithful, then we must be synced with the Spirit and we must help others be synced as well.  How?  Lead them through steps #1-4 above, making sure not to ignore #4!

So that’s it.  In order to demonstrate more faithfulness, trustworthiness, reliability, loyalty, etc., we must be deeply connected with the Spirit.

What do you think?  How important is faithfulness?  And how can it be developed in us?  Let me know in the comments below!