The More Things Change…

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

                            

That saying came to mind this afternoon as I was reading the author's introduction to a book which, after a number of years of sitting on the shelf, I am beginning to read. He wrote these words:

"Without "absolutes" revealed from without by God Himself, we are left rudderless in a sea of conflicting ideas about manners, justice and right and wrong, issuing from a multitude of self-opinionated thinkers."

Say what? We either receive and live by God's revelation, or drift along on whatever whim is competing for our attention and driving the culture. Everything expressed in that quote would apply to our time, and yet they are the words of John Owen, an English pastor and theologian of the 17th century.

Here I was thinking that much of what is happening culturally, morally and ethically in our day was largely a product of ever faster forms of communication and methods to widely share one's opinion. Things like Twitter, Facebook and the internet, the last two of which I am using in sharing this blog post.

But Owen proves me wrong. Before "modern communication," be it the internet, television, radio, telephones, the telegraph, Pony Express, or what have you, and before any " influential thinker" you can name from the past 300+ years, the same malady was present then as today. Individual people and cultures could ground themselves in what God has revealed through the Bible, or in something else. Anything else. Everything else.

Owen declares, rightly I believe, that the Bible's position on all matters of right-and-wrong was fixed, while in comparison whatever else was used would be perpetually subject to change. Owen writes in the 17th century, but the problem he speaks to has been present throughout human history.

Three pages later in his introduction Owen says:

"The fallen nature of the human mind, to its very great detriment, is so disposed that it will trust other fallen men rather than turn in helplessness to Him whose aid and succor they ought to seek for all things."

Boom! The problem, then and now, was a natural seeking of anything but God.  And the answer, then and now, is to turn to what God freely reveals, of himself and how we should live, in the Bible.

Our need is great, and in his mercy God freely meets that need. In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus says:

"Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Our world may be changing, but God's grace remains the same. "Come to me…"  is the beginning. Yield to Jesus and he will work out the details. Amen.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.