Title: An unserious generation
Series: From Pastor’s Desk
Number: Vol. 14, No. 22
Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. I am pleased to welcome you to the transition week between the months of September and October 2025. My prayer is that God will daily teach your heart never to make any excuse again for not embracing His will for your life, so that all may always go well with you and all that is yours. Amen.
Now I offered that prayer for you because our generation is a generation that is given to making excuses for not doing what is right, as our Lord Jesus Christ has pointed out to us. And if those of us who are children of God will not watch ourselves, we too will find ourselves making excuses all the time for not living in the will of God for our lives.
Just take a look at what Jesus says about this:“”To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others: “‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and “sinners.” ‘ But wisdom is proved right by her actions.”” (Matt 11:16-19NIV)
What do we see here about our generation? We see that it is an unserious one. And that is why it is given to making excuses for not doing the will of God. As our Lord points out in the above bible text, even though He and John the Baptist did not handle their respective ministries in the same manner, both of them came from God to bless humanity. And that is showing us that we are not to judge anybody’s ministry on the basis of external things; rather, we are to judge it on the basis of the fruit it is bearing. If it is bearing the fruit of God’s righteousness, then, it is of God.
But if it is not bearing the fruit of His righteousness, even if it appears holy on the outside, it is not of God. And please keep that in mind.In any case, we see that the Jews of the time of our Lord Jesus Christ would not accept Him or John the Baptist, even though both of them ministered differently. Why? They were just unserious. As we also see in that bible text, John’s way of ministering showed that he did not care much about food, clothing, housing or interaction with people. He just wanted to proclaim the word of God to the whole nation and make them ready for their Messiah.
And whether they listened to him or not, he did not care. So, the people called him a mad man. In other words, their excuse for not accepting him and the word of God that he brought to them was that he was not acting like a normal person. (Cf. Matt 3:4; Mark 1:6)
But when Jesus came and began to minister, He did everything that John would not do. He ate. He drank. He interacted with everybody, including sinners. And one would expect that they would accept Him because He was acting like a normal person. But instead of accepting Him and the word of God that He brought, the people called Him a glutton and drunkard.
Can you now see that they were unserious? Yes, they were unserious and had no intention of taking God seriously. Therefore, they would use anything as their excuse for running away from His will for them and eventually destroy themselves.
Unfortunately, the story is still the same today. Our generation has not changed at all. We are still as unserious as ever. So, we will use anything as our excuse for rejecting God. For example, I read in the news recently of a young influential man that told his reason for saying ‘Bye’ to the church in an interview. And what was his reason?
According to him, he drove early to church one Sunday morning and was asked to park his car outside. And as he was about to do that, he saw that some of those who came after him were asked to park their cars inside. Why? Their cars were more expensive than his.
So, instead of parking his car outside, he just drove back home. And ever since then, he had stopped attending church meetings.Now is it right for anybody to be treated like that in any church? No! But if it is God and the salvation of your soul you are after, you will not allow something like that to drive you away from the church.
However, if you are unserious and not ready to do the will of God, you will use anything, even something as unimportant as the way the chairs in a church are arranged, as your excuse for running away from the church or for changing churches as one would change garments.
Well, the word of God is coming to you now and warning you to stop making excuses for your unseriousness in doing the will of God. That is because none of your excuses will be able to keep you safe on the day that the Lord returns to judge the whole world. So, warn yourself.Have a lovely week.