The word is about, there's something evolving
Whatever may come, the world keeps revolving
They say the next big thing is here
That the revolution's near
But to me it seems quite clear
That it's all just a little bit of history repeating- Shirley Bassey and the Propeller Heads
Every few years, or so, I see a generational war. One Generation defies another. One generation puts down another as being too old-fashioned or too modern. Even within the church, this age-old battle wages. And this is nothing new. Socrates, for example, was often accused of corrupting the youth. The problem though, isn’t the generational gap or gaps that occur. The problem is that we’re people of limited perspective, and we usually choose only to see it from our own (very limited) point of view. Think about it for a minute. You have a beginning date. Your perspective begins when your awareness did. You have a very limited area of the world that has made an impact on how you think, act, and react to the world around you. And so, your view of history is (usually) centered around this.
The problem with our narrow point of view, based on our own personal history, is we usually judge the past by this. And because of this, we’re doomed to repeat bad mistakes because we (often) arrogantly assume that the people of that past were not as enlightened as we are now. Loved ones, we’re at a dangerous point in History. I’m not in any way trying to be political, but, as a student of History, I see things happening in our society that have happened over and over again. The biggest problem is we ARE looking for political systems and solutions to save us, as those who made the same mistakes in the past were trying to do. And this, unless we put our minds right, is bound to lead to a similar conclusion.
No, friends, I’m not advocating for this or that president. I’m calling for you to bow to your King. To comport yourselves as Jesus would have you do. Jesus died to set us free from the systems of this world, even as we must live in them for a little while. Apart from Christ, we’re slaves of sin, bound up in the affairs of this world. But BECAUSE Jesus died, was buried and rose again, we’re set free from sin, and no longer have to fear death. We can recognize we’re sojourners and exiles in this world, and proclaim the mercies of God, all the while trying to live in manners worthy of Jesus Christ. This is the only way to get past the perspective problem: to put the flesh to death and put on a heavenly mind-set.
Philippians 3:
Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.
Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
