Check out the results of a recent survey:

The question was — “What is the greatest struggle that Christians in their 20s and 30s face today?”

Here were the top 10 answers that were repeated the most:

1. We lack mentors and being mentored in the deeper things of God.
2. We lack being connected with others who are serious about growing in Christ.
3. We struggle with spiritual loneliness and lack of community. We long for connection and deep relationships with serious Christians.
4. We lack understanding of the Bible and knowing how to read it with profit.
5. We struggle with distractions and being free from the influences of the world.
6. We struggle with compromising with the world’s false narratives because of fear of persecution, being labeled haters, bigots, intolerant, closed-minded, idiots, and losing friends.
7. We struggle to find authentic friendships based on knowing Jesus, loving Him and serving Him.
8. We struggle with finding our purpose in the world.
9. We lack inspiration and motivation and get distracted and discouraged by the cares of this life.
10. We really don’t Jesus that well, so we need true discipleship.

So what do  you know, twenty and thirty somethings are just like the rest of us. Refreshing, isn’t it? There is something universal and timeless about this list of struggles.  I’m sixty-six and this is pretty much my list of struggles.

Isn’t it amazing how successful Satan has been at making us think we are the only ones. Guess what? We aren’t the only ones who struggle with connection. Look at the list and note how many are really about connection. As long as Satan can keep the Body of Christ in broken, unconnected pieces, he wins.

We need each other. We need real Christian friends. We need some who are struggling like we are. We need some who have struggled and can guide us. We need some whom we can help by sharing what we’ve been through.

Isn’t that what the church is supposed to offer? It seems to me that the first step is that we quit saying how blessed we are and start admitting how much we struggle. It won’t take long to realize we’re not alone and that there is hope and help in sharing that knowledge and the connections just knowing we are not alone will forge.

All you in your twenties and thirties, welcome to the world of struggle with the rest of us. And, by the way, that number one concern about needing mentors, well here we are. We’re the ones with gray hair or, sometimes, no hair. Just ask.