If I ever write a book someday I think this might just be the title Are the Good Kids Happy? We who have grown up in a Christian home and chosen to follow Christ since the womb are the "good kids". You know who you are, the ones that in the world's eyes have never done anything wrong, who all the parents want their kids to be like, who always seem to make the responsible choice and never disobey. Yeah, WE are the good kids. Sure, we are few in number because we always have dropouts- the secret bad kids that you don't find out about until they have some party scandal and stay-at-home, Bible study mom absolutely falls apart and everyone in the church is praying for that sad family -OR- the kids who go ballistic in college and lose all sense of urgency.
So what is life about? Did we miss the boat and put far too much emphasis on our own happiness and cast aside the eternal mindset that God intended? Should we look less to the immediate pleasures this world is so fond of dealing us and press on to the ultimate goal to win the prize at the end of the race? Where is the race? What happened to the prize being all that you want and strive after in a race? Am I in the race?
Are the good kids happy? The kids that follow Christ and choose not to turn away when so many others have tread their trail and forged in the wrong direction. The kids that our adult culture applauds and recognizes as "mature", "grown-up" and a "great kid" to name a few. And let me be honest, we know those kids, typically nerdy with a social life that consists of either church activities or at the very least church friends that you spend all your time with doing scavenger hunts, playing board games and going on weekend church retreats. So are they happy? Where are the pioneers? Where are the zealous college students bursting to tell the "going out" crowd how ecstatic they are about Jesus? Are are we? I get so tired of hearing about the good kids (yes, I still am one..) and how responsible they are. Anyone can be responsible. Anyone can make good choices. Anyone can be a great kid. The hard thing is can someone do all those things while reaching out with both hands to the ones that aren't doing the good things and love them so deeply and joyously that your excitement and happiness for Jesus spill out on that person?
Can we? Can the good kids be happy? Can the good kids go out and have fun without being in a Christian bubble? Can Christians have fun by the world's standards or are we conforming too much to this world? If I were reading a book, this is what I would want to read about. Stuff that affects us right now, stuff that makes Christianity show its true colors before people sell their souls. We can't preach a message that isn't real, that Christianity is all fun and happiness living in Christ (in our world's standards) but we have to preach what is real, because only that is life-giving and fulfilling. So are the good kids really happy?
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