Present, Ready, Relevant

2018 sure flew by. It seems like every year goes by faster and faster. I suppose it could be because I’m older and older but that probably isn’t it because a lot of our church members are younger and they say the same thing. The fact remains, when we reached December, half way through the school year again, with Christmas in tow, it came as somewhat of a shock. Who knows what tomorrow will bring? What follows are some prediction based primarily in Scripture. People will continue to chase after that which makes them feel better. Some will go after speed of service or the praise of others, money, members of the opposite sex… a host of other things. Some will mock those who have found true meaning in Christ. Some will challenge the very fiber of proper living, arguing that fundamentals should be reinterpreted in light of a modern age. Some others, with the best of intentions, will become defensive and preach a truth that is only for this present age but will fade and die when the current dilemmas are replaced by new and future debates. Some things will stay the same. God’s people will remain firm. They will believe Him for His promises despite what appears to be a universal moral drift toward wickedness. God’s true people will do what God’s people have always done. They will wait for Him to act in His way and at His time. They will strive to walk in Righteousness. They will learn to walk closer with God. Do we change or do we stay the same? If we are not careful we are in danger of becoming the old guard, resistant to change in the face of reality. On the other hand if we are not careful we could be whisked along with a large part of conservative Christianity into, “fighting for what we believe in.” The fact is that the lies of this generation-the lies that they have swallowed and the lies that they have concocted- are not original, just repackaged. We must be new and being made new daily but we must not fall into the trap of fluctuating so much that historians could rightly dismiss our efforts as limited to this context. We must cling to the solid truths of Scripture while increasing our understanding of its application so that we are not left answer-less for a searching people. We must overcome the challenge of connecting with the people around us- a people more and more willing to allow division to exist. We must reach out to neighbors in a day when neighbors never see one another and willingly accept and embrace the distance between them. We must speak in a language that can be understood without changing the subject matter to be for or against the specific falsehoods we face. God does not care about, nor did He write the Bible to be, a good answer for the challenges of the opposition. The Bible is simply the truth, the truth about what happened, the truth about what happens, and the truth about what will happen. As we go into 2019 then, let us remain the same in the face of the tactics of the enemy AND become progressively better at applying Scripture to our everyday battles. Dozens of generations before us have had to adapt and to open themselves to God and His way. Far smaller numbers were successful than might have been hoped. Let us endure patiently and at the same time work diligently. In this way, we will be present, relevant, and ready.