Weekly Thought – April 14,2020
Fred thought for fun. How odd that sounds, but it is true. He marveled when people would tell him they never thought at all. Everything he saw, read, or experienced started him down an exploratory path of contemplation. In his files are hundreds of pages labeled M-M. No one to date has deciphered the meaning, but they are one or two paragraph observations on diverse subjects. We are serving up two of these delights this week.
As Fred frequently pointed out, we are in constant flux. No one feels this more than college students. Please pray for those we touch each year with a message of hope, and help. Your encouragement and financial support are greatly appreciated.
The Human Condition
Part of our condition is caused by living in a secular world. Too often our religion takes on the flavor of the secular, as well. We live in a competitive world where winning and losing are key. We live in a high-energy world with image fighting reality, with the media too often doing the defining. We recognize and appreciate individualism while needing community.
Peers are more important to the youth than parents. Materialism is more prevalent and more highly valued than spirituality “Now” is overshadowing interest in the hereafter. Science has put faith on the defensive. Authority is being questioned. Institutional religion and denominations are in disfavor.
And yet, there is a memory of what used to be, a faint recollection of a certain otherness. There is a yearning for true reality. In this vacuum there is a longing for meaning.
Transition to What?
Historians have labeled these times as “post-modern.” They say we are in a transition period, not yet knowing what we will become. We are like a trapeze artist who has left the security of one swing and has not yet reached the certainty of the next. I think we are in the period between trapeze and chaos.
Management books are written on managing these times. When we want to go back, we realize we are the trapeze performer caught between swings. It would be foolish to think we can stand still and let the world come back to us. We must move forward.
Our confidence as believers is in the fact that Biblical have no time frame, no relevant situations. Any transition is from one era to another knowing God is always there.
This week think about: 1) What do I think about when I alone? 2) What changes am I anticipating? 3) How well am I balancing Biblical principles in a secular world?
Words of Wisdom: “ ‘Now’ is overshadowing interest in the hereafter.”
Wisdom from the Word: “All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change.” (James 1:17 NET Bible)