HE WORLD IS CHANGING AT BREAKNECK SPEED. MANY PEOPLE LOOK BACK and long for “the good old days.” What exactly do they mean? Hamburgers for 99 cents, doctors who make house calls, gas for 72 cents a gallon? They talk as if the past were a golden, idyllic existence with perfectly clean air, rivers, and streams; no energy crisis or global warming; close family ties and fun instead of fear of guns at home and terrorists abroad; you know, the simple life.
“The world is too big for us,” opined one national periodical. “Too much is going on, too many crimes, too much violence and excitement. Try as you will, you get behind in the race, in spite of yourself. It’s an incessant strain to keep pace . . . and still, you lose ground. Science empties its discoveries on you so fast that you stagger beneath them in hopeless bewilderment. The political world is news seen so rapidly you’re out of breath trying to keep pace with who’s in and who’s out. Everything is high pressure. Human nature can’t endure much more.” Sounds like something from a recent New York Times editorial. But guess what—this appeared in the Atlantic Journal, June 16, 1833—more than 176 years ago!
Everything in life depends on our perspective and attitude. Some people look back and remember only the best of times, even though it was really the worst of times. Others see the shortcomings of the day as if they were new phenomena. But if we think about it, since the Fall (Gen. 3) the world has been spinning out of kilter. Every generation has faced challenges and idealized the past when confronted with the present, harsh realities of the cumulative effect of sin.
Truth is, we all wish times would change for the better, especially as we embark on a new year in what many are calling an emerging culture. We call it that because our entire culture seems to be unraveling at a rapid pace and no one knows where we’ll land.
As part of this philosophy, new ethics are replacing traditional core values. The worth of the individual and sanctity of human life are being rejected, along with religious values and the idea of objective right and wrong. There’s apparently nothing special in being human. Killing seems beneficent, suicide rational, euthanasia compassionate, and caring for the handicapped and elderly a burden that wastes limited financial resources.
A few people are desperately trying to change these times. Some promise change we can believe in at a time when world rulers struggle to find acceptable answers for ongoing wars, terrorism, rising unemployment, and sinking national morale. Others respond generously to natural disasters on a global scale, only to discover they have no control over the times or their signs of decay. I myself have joined the movement of, if not for, change by transitioning from the warmth of a California parish to the long winters of a Michigan seminary. But only God can change the signs and times.
The Bible emphatically asserts: “[God] changes times and seasons” (Dan. 2:21). In fact, Scripture makes it clear that all our times are in the hands of the Lord (Ps. 31:15). Perhaps if we truly believed that, we would make fewer New Year’s resolutions and be more obedient to His commands (John 13:34).
I am grateful that amid prolific changes many things will always remain the same, such as Jesus Christ, the person we worship (Heb. 13:8); His truths we hold so dear (2 Tim. 2:19); His promise that He will be with us always (Matt. 28:20); and best of all, this: “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he [or she] has done” (Rev. 22:12).
Let’s stay mentally sane, spiritually sober, and saved this new year and until Jesus comes, despite personal, national, and global changes. To do so we must go back to the basics and be alert (1 Peter 5:8), study to show ourselves approved of God (2 Tim. 2:15), and love one another as Christ loves us (John 15:12).
By these will the world know that we are true agents of change!
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