2000-10-27 - An Unreflecting Age

1 Corinthians 2:16, "For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ."

We live in a world of restlessness. Fierce activities -- it is almost as if it is impossible to stop our activities long enough to fix our thoughts on that which is higher, better, and more lasting than that which we have before us now. After all, to reflect is to look back, and we need more forward-looking people. But I would call your attention to look beyond the world today. Turn your thoughts from the material to the immaterial, from the visible to the invisible, from your watch, or from time, to eternity -- from possessions to God, and from the things present, to the things to come.

The present world has too strong a hold on our hearts. I can say this because it is not a new problem. The church has a long history of struggling with its focus. The cares of the world have swept over many and buried us, like the Kursk, under a sea of worldliness. The great danger for us is that we seek to secure Heaven here. It is a temptation that, without thought, prayer and diligence, is often prone to become sin. We are so prone to forget that the better, the more everlasting way is that which is less obvious, less traveled, less taken.

Take a quarter and stick it so that it blocks your vision. That is how easy it is to lose sight of the world. One little 25-cent piece can block it out. Two can cause you to lose all sight of the world altogether. The sky, the earth, the sea...everything is obscured by 50 cents.

The present world, while visible, is also perishable. Compared to Heaven, it is insignificant. So many walk about with visions of making it rich, dreams of fame, even plans to sin and get away with it. These types of centering on the earthiness of our lives can make us spellbound.

In Bible times, God has been pleased to raise up a prophet or leader who cried "shame, shame" to such a mindset. Those who heard the message, while stunned, have considered and repented. This age needs such a prophet or messenger today. One that is focused on purity and not prosperity.

The "people do not consider" (Isaiah 1:3), is also the cry of our land. But we need those who will "meditate on these things." (1 Timothy 4:15) The riches of this world are mere phantoms. They do not last. How sad to embrace a phantom, and lose the everlasting riches that are in Christ.

We need more men and women who will begin each day with questions like, "What will it profit me to gain the whole world and lose my soul?" "What can I do this day to serve my Lord?" "What temptations might I meet with today?" "And how can I avoid falling into those sins?"

We need a reflecting society. Not an age of hermits who can't go out into the world, but rather an age where Christians take reflective action in the name of and for the cause of Christ. We need Christians who are trains, leading the way, pulling the rest behind them. We need all these things, and in many ways we have the leaders, it seems. What we seem to lack is leaders who have time to reflect, meditate, and discern the will of the Lord.

Soli Deo Gloria,
T-

 tim@cfdevotionals.org
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