Why are young adults fueling “meaningful spiritual renewal”?

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Two-thirds of all US adults now say they have made a personal commitment to Jesus that is still important in their life today, marking a 12 percent increase in the last four years. Barna researchers say this “may be the clearest indication of meaningful spiritual renewal in the United States.” In similar news, new data from the Bible Society in the UK reports that two million more people in Great Britain attended church in 2024 than in 2018.

Here’s an especially encouraging fact: Young adults in both countries are fueling the increase. Perhaps this is in part the result of the anxiety and depression so many of them are feeling as they grow increasingly pessimistic about their future. The greater our challenges, the more we recognize our need for a Power greater than ourselves.

But what God does, Satan corrupts. In this case, he wants to use our frustrations and failures to turn us from our Father rather than toward him. He whispers in our souls that we are not worthy of God’s favor, that our sins have cost us his best.

I have certainly been a victim of this deception over the years. In fact, I can hear his subtle doubts about grace in my heart even now. Perhaps you can hear them in yours as well.

An event on Maundy Thursday exposes this lie and invites us to consider an astounding dimension of Jesus’ love for us.

“What is there of Judas in our hearts?”

If Jesus could forgive Judas Iscariot, would you agree that he can forgive anyone?

Frederick Buechner writes of our Lord’s arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane:

There can be no doubt in Jesus’ mind what the kiss of Judas means, but it is Judas that he is blessing, and Judas that he is prepared to go out and die for now. Judas is only the first in a procession of betrayers two thousand years long. If Jesus were to exclude him from his love and forgiveness, to one degree or another he would have to exclude mankind.

Br. Geoffrey Tristam of the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Boston makes his point by asking, “What is there of Judas in our hearts? When have we turned away from the light and betrayed Jesus in our words and through our actions?”

I can unfortunately answer his questions easily. I assume you can as well.

Here’s the amazing rest of the story: The Savior who chose to die for Judas and all the Judases to follow prayed that same night for Judas and all the Judases to follow.

Including you and me.

The night I met Billy Graham

I’ll never forget meeting Billy Graham. I was part of a team sent from Dallas to invite the greatest evangelist since Paul to conduct an evangelistic mission in our city. When we spoke with Mr. Graham, he asked for our names as he shook our hands and welcomed us with gracious warmth. Then, as I began our presentation, he looked into my eyes and, it seemed, into my soul. I’ll always remember the depth and holiness of those blue eyes and the heart they revealed.

Knowing his personal “connection” with God, if I could have asked Billy Graham to pray for my personal needs, I would have felt immeasurably relieved and blessed. I presume that any of us would feel the same.

Now consider that Someone infinitely more connected with God is doing just that on our behalf today.

After his last supper with his disciples, Jesus spent significant time teaching them before his impending death (John 14–16). Then he “lifted up his eyes to heaven” and began to pray (John 17:1). He interceded for his apostolic disciples (vv. 6–19), then he prayed “for those who will believe in me through their word” (v. 20).

This phrase includes you and me.

What’s more, Jesus is continuing his intercession for us today. He is “at the right hand of God,” where he is “interceding for us” (Romans 8:34). “Interceding” could be translated “continually pleading on our behalf.” Hebrews 7 adds: “He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (v. 25, my emphasis).

Think of it: The divine Son of God is praying for you right now.

“When God prefers to remain anonymous”

We will not know until we are in heaven the degree to which Jesus’ intercession marked and changed our lives. But we do know that the Father “always” hears his Son (John 11:42). And we know that Jesus only prays for his “perfect” will for us to be done (Romans 12:2).

I can imagine Jesus praying for the men who knocked on my apartment door in August of 1973 to invite my brother and me to their church. I learned later that we were the last people they visited that day. If we had not been home, they would not have come back. If our father had not happened to overhear our conversation, he would not have put us on their bus the next morning, a day that led to our eventual response to the gospel.

If “coincidence is when God prefers to remain anonymous,” I wonder how many such “chance” encounters are the direct result of Jesus’ intercession on our behalf.

And there’s more: As the Son of God prays for us, the Spirit of God who indwells every believer (1 Corinthians 3:16) prays within us: “We do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26). With this promise: “The Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (v. 27).

“You have taken up my cause, O Lord”

In the hard places of life, we may be moved to ask,

Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable? Has his steadfast love forever ceased? Are his promises at an end for all time? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion? (Psalm 77:7–9).

But the greater our pain, the more we need the One who can heal us. The deeper our grief, the more we need his grace. When we pray to the One who is praying for us, we can testify:

I called on your name, O Lᴏʀᴅ, from the depths of the pit; you heard my plea, “Do not close your ear to my cry for help!” You came near when I called on you; you said, “Do not fear!” You have taken up my cause, O Lord; you have redeemed my life (Lamentations 3:55–58; cf. Psalm 31:22).

Where does Judas live in your heart? That’s the very place Jesus is praying for you now.

Will you join him?

Quote for the day:

“Grace, like water, flows to the lowest part.” —Philip Yancey

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