Elizabeth reminds me every day how short life is. She is growing up so very quickly. Today she was able to stand while holding the top edge of her crib with no assistance.
In James 4:14, the brother of our Lord notes while exhorting us to live in right relationship with God and one another that "You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away."
It has always been interesting to me how James draws upon the brevity of life to make the case for walking in the ways of Christ. The Romans, conversely, said something quite different, "eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die."
James tells us to live our lives in light of the judgment yet to come. The world tells us there is no judgment and we can, therefore, do anything we want. The good news, of course, is that even the world cannot live out the true implications of living a life as though they will not be eventually held accountable. For if we truly lived as though justice would never come, we would live out our most evil desires with no fear of recompense.
I can only hope and pray that the world will wake up soon and recognize that God is just and that His justice will be served on all those who have not trusted in His Son as their only hope of salvation. If we really take the approach that we have absolute freedom to do whatever we wish with no fear of consequence, we can expect that our culture will continue its precipitous decline.
If we see that we all deserve God's wrath but can instead be His sons and daughters through faith in Christ, we will again see life for what it is - a gift from God to be used for His glory until He returns to judge the quick and the dead.
Thank you God for the judgment; it exposes my ongoing need of Christ. At the judgment, Your holiness will be clearly seen. Your justice will no longer be questioned. You will be vindicated before Your whole creation, and the redeemed will joyously worship you forever and ever for giving to them the righteousness of Christ. Amen.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
American Idol & American Culture
After a long day on the road to have lunch with a wonderful Christian couple and thank them personally for planning to support Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary through their will, I got home too late to make it to church and barely in time to see Elizabeth before she went down for the night. Stacie and I enjoyed dinner together as we began watching American Idol. (When we watch TV in the evenings, we watch at a low volume with captions so we do not wake Elizabeth; she has radar hearing like her mother).
As we watched, we found that the lyrics were often meaningless or worse. Overall, the show stood in direct opposition to the rest of my day, a day spent with a couple who is well along in life but doing more to battle the things of the flesh than most believers of my generation (both financially and with their service). As Stacie and I became increasingly frustrated, I decided to go for a run as Stacie drifted off to sleep. It didn't take very many steps into my jog to realize that nearly everyone on my street was watching TV, and they were watching a particular show - American Idol.
It occurred to me that millions of Americans, many of us Christians, are crowded around our TVs waiting to see who the winner of Idol will be. Parents are letting children stay up late. The anticipation of a new winner has millions riveted to the TV. We live our lives in far greater anticipation of the next Idol than we do in anticipation of the return of our risen Lord (Hebrews 10:19 - 25). We fail to take gathering with the people of God seriously because we've become comfortable in this world and no longer feel the urgency of taking refuge in the company of the redeemed. We are not looking for the return of our King; we are looking for the next king of pop. We are not thinking constantly of gaining Christ and of the pursuit of Him (Phil 3:15). When He returns, will Christ find us thinking of Him and the advance of His Kingdom, or will we be consumed with our own desires?
Back to lunch. The couple that I had the pleasure of visiting with has seen a lot of change in their days. As we spoke about the precipitous decline of the American culture and the challenges of raising up godly children in our day, the lady said, with no hint of pretense, "I just cannot wait for Jesus to return; I wish He'd come right now!" Here is a couple who is reading our culture better than many pastors because they are living in anticipation of Christ's return (as Scripture says we should!).
So, there are three things I believe God wanted to teach me with the deep contrast he showed me today:
1) Christians need to re-evaluate what we consider "neutral." We've begun to call bad things neutral. In all seriousness, can we call American Idol neutral when young ladies often appear on the show in an inappropriate amount of clothing singing things like, "My mama would be so ashamed . . I don't even know his last name. We left the club right around 3 in the morning sitting there in the parking lot, I had now clue was I was getting in to . . . no I blame it on the cuervo."
2) We younger believers need to get to know some older believers. Take the strong older couples in your church to dinner. Ask them to tell you about the good old days. Ask them about their parents, about their first job. Ask them what they see in our culture that offends them. Ask yourself if it offends you, if it offends Christ.
3) While we do not know the day or hour of Christ's return, we should be able to see that the Day is approaching (Heb 10:24). We must learn to filter all of life through the lens of Scripture. When we do, this will produce a longing in our hearts for the return of our risen Savior, Lord, and King as we strive to glorify Him on a daily basis regardless of the opposition or the consequences.
Come Lord Jesus, come.
As we watched, we found that the lyrics were often meaningless or worse. Overall, the show stood in direct opposition to the rest of my day, a day spent with a couple who is well along in life but doing more to battle the things of the flesh than most believers of my generation (both financially and with their service). As Stacie and I became increasingly frustrated, I decided to go for a run as Stacie drifted off to sleep. It didn't take very many steps into my jog to realize that nearly everyone on my street was watching TV, and they were watching a particular show - American Idol.
It occurred to me that millions of Americans, many of us Christians, are crowded around our TVs waiting to see who the winner of Idol will be. Parents are letting children stay up late. The anticipation of a new winner has millions riveted to the TV. We live our lives in far greater anticipation of the next Idol than we do in anticipation of the return of our risen Lord (Hebrews 10:19 - 25). We fail to take gathering with the people of God seriously because we've become comfortable in this world and no longer feel the urgency of taking refuge in the company of the redeemed. We are not looking for the return of our King; we are looking for the next king of pop. We are not thinking constantly of gaining Christ and of the pursuit of Him (Phil 3:15). When He returns, will Christ find us thinking of Him and the advance of His Kingdom, or will we be consumed with our own desires?
Back to lunch. The couple that I had the pleasure of visiting with has seen a lot of change in their days. As we spoke about the precipitous decline of the American culture and the challenges of raising up godly children in our day, the lady said, with no hint of pretense, "I just cannot wait for Jesus to return; I wish He'd come right now!" Here is a couple who is reading our culture better than many pastors because they are living in anticipation of Christ's return (as Scripture says we should!).
So, there are three things I believe God wanted to teach me with the deep contrast he showed me today:
1) Christians need to re-evaluate what we consider "neutral." We've begun to call bad things neutral. In all seriousness, can we call American Idol neutral when young ladies often appear on the show in an inappropriate amount of clothing singing things like, "My mama would be so ashamed . . I don't even know his last name. We left the club right around 3 in the morning sitting there in the parking lot, I had now clue was I was getting in to . . . no I blame it on the cuervo."
2) We younger believers need to get to know some older believers. Take the strong older couples in your church to dinner. Ask them to tell you about the good old days. Ask them about their parents, about their first job. Ask them what they see in our culture that offends them. Ask yourself if it offends you, if it offends Christ.
3) While we do not know the day or hour of Christ's return, we should be able to see that the Day is approaching (Heb 10:24). We must learn to filter all of life through the lens of Scripture. When we do, this will produce a longing in our hearts for the return of our risen Savior, Lord, and King as we strive to glorify Him on a daily basis regardless of the opposition or the consequences.
Come Lord Jesus, come.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)