There’s a lot you can say about Gen-Z.

We’re passionate. We’re angry. We’re really into cartoons. Regardless, hundreds of articles have been written about our generation—some good, a lot bad.

Us Gen-Zers feel, like a lot. I think that’s something that’s really good. We’re passionate to the point of pain. We’re willing to die for it.

My friend Lucy said something that really got me thinking, though.

“We’re willing to die on a lot of hills, but are we willing to live on a lot of hills?”

The Hills We Die On

“If someone held a gun to your head and told you to denounce Christ or die, what would you do?”

That’s a question that, growing up, I was asked a lot. In bible studies, in youth-group sermons, even in my friend group. It’s a good question, to an extent. Would you be willing to die for your faith?

I’ve never really been able to answer it. You never really know what you’ll do in an extreme situation like that. As a teenager, I always hoped I would die for Christ, but part of me wasn’t sure I would.

You see, Gen-Z feels a lot. We’re anxious. We’re depressed. There’s a turmoil of emotions, mixed like a bad cocktail inside of us. A lot of us don’t know what to do with it. Some of us know that we can bring it to God. Even fewer of us know that God can heal us of it.

I was talking to God about this recently. I’ve come to a point in my life where I’m pretty sure I would die for Christ if it came to that. I’d be more than willing to lay it down and join him in Heaven. I told God that, too. Just to keep him up-to-date, you know?

“That’s great,” God whispered. “But Alli…are you willing to take that same passion—that same reference and weight a decision like dying for me would take…are you willing to take that, turn it on its head, and live for me instead?”

Now that’s a different question.

Are you willing to live for Christ?

Not just wake up the next morning and go about your day, but really live for him? Is your everything going to be about God? Every cell in your body, every secret part of you… Are you willing to surrender that and live, every single moment, for Christ?

Are you willing to live for Christ when it doesn’t look or feel like you think it should? God is big. Sometimes, living for Christ doesn’t look like classic Sunday-morning church. Sometimes it looks like moving halfway across the country to pursue a childhood dream. Sometimes it looks like motherhood. Sometimes, it’s going into dangerous situations…but more often, it looks like talking to that person in the grocery store and asking them if they need prayer. Paying for that person’s coffee.

It looks like, no matter what you’re doing or where you are, listening to The Holy Spirit and being a willing vessel.

He’ll change your plans. You could have a full schedule, and God could mess with that. In fact, he could do away with your plan and write in his own—completely and totally different from what you expected. Will you be obedient to that?

Are you willing to live for him?

I’ll be honest. I really want to give up sometimes. Life is hard, and things happen that make it feel a little bit pointless… But it’s not about that anymore. Not for me. Life’s hard, but God is good. Besides, it’s his life anyway. It’s not mine anymore, so I don’t get the option to give up. That’s God’s choice now. I decided to live for Christ, so I’m going to live and keep writing, and keep pursuing God…even when I want to give up and call it quits.

Hebrews 12:1 is so important with this. I encourage you to read Hebrews 11 for the full context, but essentially, the author of Hebrews lays it out like this.

We have a huge cloud of witnesses before us, in the bible and in our personal lives. People are throwing it all down and running with everything they have towards Christ. We see that with people like Charlie Kirk. We see that with our brothers who aren’t in the United States and are persecuted daily for their faith.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:1

I’m not perfect at living for Christ. There are days and moments when I get so wrapped up in everything going on that I get distracted. But God is good. I cannot state that enough. He’ll remind me when I’m distracted. 🙂

Now that you’ve answered that question…

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