As my kids get older, I’m constantly finding ways to be relevant for them. I’ve even gone so far as to adopt some of their language. Have you come across any of these?

“Hey, Caleb that’s fire!”

“Jude, that’s drip!”

“Wow, boys, that’s W!”

“You’re alpha.”

“That’s cap, you’re capping.”

“That’s skibity sigma” (yes, that’s a thing…enter eye roll here).

It is unbelievable how quickly these slang words pop up. And it seems as soon as a mid-forties adult catches on to their hidden language, they throw in a few more just to keep it “real.”

How do you want to be remembered?

We all look to be relevant in some way: relevant to our kids, spouses, and co-workers. We want to be remembered for something—it’s part of how God wired us.

John Mark Comer in his book, Garden City, writes, “nobody just wants to be a carbon footprint and take up space. Nobody just wants to go through life, work a job, buy a house, pay taxes, amass stuff, and then retire with a condo in Florida…everybody wants to be spectacular in their own way.”

This battle for relevance in a predominately self-centered, you-do-you society is a dangerous game if we measure our successes and failures by the world’s metre stick.

Relevance in God’s Eyes

This is what the God of the universe says, “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (ESV, 2020, Philippians4:8).

When we meditate on such things, God promises us that “whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these” (ESV, 2020, John 14:12).

John Mark Comer goes on to say, “when we live and work, not to get what we can from others, but rather to love and serve others, we’re harmonizing with the heart of God himself. And one of the best possible ways we can love and serve people is to show up for work every day. And do our best work, not to get ahead, or make more money, or become famous, but to love and serve God and neighbour. And when we do that, we start to reclaim our humanness.”

I recently began to turn the tide with my boys.

Rather than exerting myself to be more relevant, I try to spend more time with them, doing the things they want to do, and modeling truth, honour, justice, and things that are commendable.

And every once in awhile I throw out a tubular, radical, and narly just to keep things honest.