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.
