Overexposed but Underdeveloped

We live in such a highly emotional society.

Let that statement sink in.

Now I know most guys are thinking, "Are you kidding me? I wasn't allowed to be emotional. I don't want to be emotional. I'm a man."

And girls? Well... you probably understand already. Everything is emotional.
And that isn't a stab. Truly, women are more in touch with the reality around us than guys are most of the time.

The fact is, we are ruled by our emotional experiences.

(Yes, even guys... Passion, anger, happiness is all emotion too.)

This is how we have always worked. Emotions rule over intellect, ability, and development.

In fact emotional stability and intelligence is the number one marker for success, almost double the importance than IQ, education, background, history, or who you know.

Due to how our brain is wired most of our logical decisions in order to process have to send an electrical signal through the part of the brain that controls emotion.

We filter everything through our emotional experience and feelings.



My generation and the generation below me is experiencing something huge right now. We are realizing that we have more access to information, more access to new experiences, more access to things that will shape our intellect and our knowledge of life more than any other generation before us has had access to.

We are far above the generations before us in how we think through philosophy, theology, politics, geography, the sciences, mathematics, mechanics, etc. Why? Because we have access to innumerable resources.

Our generation has single handedly proved the "Six Degrees of Separation" to be false... because we have dwindled it down to only five degrees through the use of social media and how easy it is to travel across the world.

One of my professors has said about our generation that we have been "Overexposed" to the things around us compared to previous generations exposure to the world. And this isn't necessarily a bad thing at all.

The internet and information age has truly set us a step above those who were before us.

But at this huge advancement we have lost so many things:

• We are no longer lost in amazement at the idea of putting a man on the moon.
• A heart transplant, to us, seems like a minor medical procedure.
• It no longer intrigues us how a combustible engine works.
• Animals are no longer a mystery to us.
• In fact, if we are truly honest, God no longer seems like a mystery to us.

The truth is, yes, we have been overexposed.
But we have also been underdeveloped.

"Your generation moreso than any other, has been overexposed but underdeveloped."

- Dr. Mark Moore, Ph. D.

We lack emotional stability... because of how high powered our emotional culture is.

We are perhaps the most underdeveloped generation when it comes to Emotional Intelligence and Emotional Stability.

Relationships have been broken.
We have never been taught how to appropriately heal.
We have been lied to, cheated on, and put down all our life.
Our identities have been attacked.
We are told that who we are is based on what we do (or don't do).
We are told to dwindle everything down to a tweetable snippet of information... anything more complex than that is not worth saying.

Our generation is coming out of broken households more than any other before, there are more sexually powered media outlets, technology is no longer our friend, it is our ruler.

We love our Samsung Galaxies more than the stars that fill the Milky Way.
We love our screens that run Windows more than appreciating what lies outside our actual kitchen sink window.
The fruit that is such "a delight to the eyes" is still called Apple, it just comes in the form of pads, pods, and phones rather than growing on trees.

And it is this that has changed us so much into people who are exposed to so much, but developed so little. We have fractured, fake, and unreliable relationships.

How does the church fix this trend?

One on one relationships is how discipleship has always worked in the church.
We all need someone who will pour into our lives.

But for many of us, that person just isn't available.
And that is a sad, but ultimately true statement. 
(Shame on us, and it is something we need to fix.)

So we look for something to fill that gap, and honestly it isn't being offered by the church at large.

Teens, kids, and young adults are screaming out for attention and affection from someone older... but the problem is the adults are also screaming out for someone to pour into them... it is a cycle of mediocrity and non-discipleship.

We fix it by empowering people in the pews, encouraging them to realize they do have something to offer.

Christian, I don't care how many times you have made mistakes or how unworthy you feel, you do matter to the Kingdom and you do have something to offer.

And when we still come back to the fact that there aren't others stepping up...
We realize that what is available is Christ, His Holy Spirit, and access to His Our Father.

And He is revealed to us in the Scriptures.

Nothing will develop a person faster than dwelling in the Bible. Chewing on Scripture. Drinking deep from the life experience of Jesus.

It is a book filled with Truth. 

In the end, Truth wins.
In the end, Truth overcomes.
Truth has the power to overwhelm.

And church, it is high time we let Truth overwhelm emotion.




Truth ALWAYS overwhelms emotion.


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Nathan Bryant

is a pastor and currently a Resident in the Leadership Institute in Phoenix, AZ. As a student at Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri he majored in Biblical Leadership, New Testament Studies, and Missiology. Nathan has a combined passion for unity and discipleship in the global church. Nate is a crazed sports fan, he enjoys college football and playing fantasy football. He also enjoys watching baseball with friends. Nate is unashamedly a Starbucks addict. Yay Coffee!

Christ's Kingdom is bigger than our causes.

Christ's Kingdom is bigger than our boundaries.

Follow him on Twitter: Follow @nathanpbryant