“Provoking Christian Insights” series

Part 2

“The paradox of religion between the young, the old, the King James, the modern, the rational and the unwilling.”

It doesn’t matter how old you are you always learn something in Sunday School. Last Sunday was no different. The difference of the “do’s and don’ts” of old and new, church vows and real life runs into modern lifestyle differences. What Jesus would do doesn’t always fit what people do today.

During no other period in history have things changed so much in so few years. The famous generation “gap” we talked about yesterday has complicated relationships by modern thinking, medicines, and machines. Man has flown higher, but has shorter tempers; wider highways and narrower viewpoints.

We have smaller families yet buy bigger houses and see broken homes. We spend more but seem to have less. We buy more and enjoy it less. We have more degreed people but seem to have less sense, more knowledge, but poorer judgment. Experts grow in every field but we have more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We eat, drink, smoke, “dip,” and pop pills too much without regard for what it is doing to our “Temples,” our bodies. We spend too much, charge too much, enjoy too little. We drive too fast laugh too little and anger too quickly without remembering what the Lord taught us. We get too tired, read God’s Word too little, watch TV too much, and get on our knees to pray too seldom.

We talk too much, hate too often, and love too little. We know how to make a living but it takes two of us to do it. We’re too haggard by the events of our daily lives to have a real life.  Even though we live longer we aren’t adding much life to our years.

We know people on the Internet but we don’t know our neighbors very well. We’ve learned to rush. We can’t wait to get to the ball game but don’t see the urgency of church. We make quick trips, eat on the run, and spend less time at the family table.

We work for people who want to be known for their stature but are short on character. They garner steep profits while their relationships are shallow and products suffer. The advertising is rich and tempting but there is less of value in the storehouse. Divorce in the church is the same as on the street. Lives are littered with affairs and broken relationships. Our government, once under God, is now struggling with scandals and lost direction.

A promise is a promise, a vow a vow.

You may have heard the gospel tune “Yes and Amen,” about the promises of God “ever one of them is true.” God makes over 3,500 promises in the Bible and God plans on keeping each and every one of them.

How many promises have we made to God? Do we plan to keep every one of them?

Sometimes acts of violence and broken vows make things so unbearable that separation and divorce are the only way out of a terrible situation. God will make a way through these terrible times if we are faithful.

The problem appears in being “faithful.” The end test in the Bible is “to him who overcomes.” Rev. Bob Maugans said “Righteousness is the biggest word in the Bible.” Our view of righteousness may differ from that of our children.

There is an ongoing story on the Internet of a man who grew up under the authority of the King James Bible and a daughter who grew up under a modern translation. There are things in the KJV that the father thought was “righteous” but the daughter saw as “ridiculous and not relevant.” Most of the things that the father and daughter argue over, have very little to do with the Gospel or salvation.

“Many young people growing up in the 60’s and later grew up under the Living Bible, more of a commentary than a strict translation,” said one pastor. The King James Version was hard for them to understand, then and now. But Bible translations are not the problem to kids who refused to go to Sunday School, or church, and parents who wouldn’t make them go.

Families who never prayed together, had family devotions, or got past “God is good let us thank Him for our food,” or were seen by their children depending on God for His provision, don’t get it. God is out there someplace. This isn’t a problem that can’t be fixed. Let them see the way you walk!

 Pray that God will draw near to them and God will draw near to you.

A pastor was concerned that people go before the church and accept the denominations polity of non-drinking in a vow of membership then continue to go on drinking socially with little or no concern for the vow that they made. Make sure that you belong to a church that fits your lifestyle. And if you join, make sure that your lifestyle fits your membership vow. If you don’t agree with total abstaining, then you need to make other choices.

Your kids need to know that you are who you say you are and do what you say you’ll do. I’ve found myself guilty of saying, and doing things, that I wouldn’t have done if Jesus was standing there in the midst of us.

Lastly, God shows us things. Whether it is you or your children, one act of obedience can create such a stirring in us, and in our churches. Let someone pray for you, for your children. Be quiet and listen for the Lord. One act of intercession by someone who knows how to pray may be all that is needed.

We may not be conscious that we all have comfort zones that we hide in, or that we retreat to them. We often step back reasoning ourselves out of what we should do before we step out. Do you feel God tugging at you? Do you feel God giving you a plan?

Listen for God’s voice, restoration of the heart, and growth through the empowering of the Holy Spirit. The favor of the Lord is upon us. God is moving. Step out to meet Him.

INSPIRATION: “The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people” (Acts 5:12) God wants you to rely upon the Holy Spirit, not on previous experience, to lead them to Jesus.

Write: croneis@earthlink.net