The good old days
Last weekend my wife and I went to Kansas City, and while we were there we watched the Royals play the Oakland Athletics.
I wish I could say that it was a good game, but it wasn't, even if you are a diehard A's fan because the A's utterly destroyed the Royals. Seriously, I have never been to an MLB game which one team scored more that 10 runs, but in this one, the A's scored more than 15!
One thing I noticed about the Royals, and it is likely due to this being the 20th anniversary, but throughout the game the scoreboard video screen continually played clips of their World Series Victories FROM 1985! This was over and over and over, and many of the people whom you could classify as "real" Royals fans were wearing shirts that said "we believe". Here, the Royals are having another dismal season, they are losing game after game, and the impression I received was one of being stuck in the past.
Now, before you think I'm coming down hard on the Royals, I'm not. I think being stuck in the past, or, better put, longing for the "good old days" is a place where too many people spend their time.
I do it quite a bit, less each day, but I still miss certain things from my past: my old car, certain friendships, etc, but that's not the point. I shouldn't do that. It's not wrong to reminisce or think fondly of the past, but when it becomes a longing, then there's a problem.
We do this in the church too.
How many times in sermons, Christian talk shows, or conversations do we hear, "I wish it was like the 50s again when everything was better and people were more moral."
We do hear it, in fact, I heard it only a few months ago on a popular, national Christian broadcast that was talking about moral issues.
We bemoan the postmodern present and long for the past, even though things were not "better", they were less open.
The problem with focusing on the past is that we lose sight of the issues facing us at hand.
We lose sight of the opportunities and challenges that are right before our own eyes.
We even lose sight about how good things are now.
In America we have a tendancy to think that we are the only country that has an abundance of churches and Christian people.
We think that we should be the center of morality, etc. That's not a bad goal, but when we are focused on how much better things were in the 50s, or any decade in America, we don't see the good that is going in other places. Take for instance Africa. In the midst of severe Muslim persecution, poverty, and disease, people are turning to Christ alone for salvation in droves.
In China and South Korea, Christianity is spreading.
These are the good days because we have hope and are able to see the power of the Gospel.
Things here in the States do not come close to how "bad" they are in Africa or in Asia, yet the Church thrives and the Gospel continues.
Let's drop the love affair with the 1950s and take a look around and see that these are the good old days too.
I wish I could say that it was a good game, but it wasn't, even if you are a diehard A's fan because the A's utterly destroyed the Royals. Seriously, I have never been to an MLB game which one team scored more that 10 runs, but in this one, the A's scored more than 15!
One thing I noticed about the Royals, and it is likely due to this being the 20th anniversary, but throughout the game the scoreboard video screen continually played clips of their World Series Victories FROM 1985! This was over and over and over, and many of the people whom you could classify as "real" Royals fans were wearing shirts that said "we believe". Here, the Royals are having another dismal season, they are losing game after game, and the impression I received was one of being stuck in the past.
Now, before you think I'm coming down hard on the Royals, I'm not. I think being stuck in the past, or, better put, longing for the "good old days" is a place where too many people spend their time.
I do it quite a bit, less each day, but I still miss certain things from my past: my old car, certain friendships, etc, but that's not the point. I shouldn't do that. It's not wrong to reminisce or think fondly of the past, but when it becomes a longing, then there's a problem.
We do this in the church too.
How many times in sermons, Christian talk shows, or conversations do we hear, "I wish it was like the 50s again when everything was better and people were more moral."
We do hear it, in fact, I heard it only a few months ago on a popular, national Christian broadcast that was talking about moral issues.
We bemoan the postmodern present and long for the past, even though things were not "better", they were less open.
The problem with focusing on the past is that we lose sight of the issues facing us at hand.
We lose sight of the opportunities and challenges that are right before our own eyes.
We even lose sight about how good things are now.
In America we have a tendancy to think that we are the only country that has an abundance of churches and Christian people.
We think that we should be the center of morality, etc. That's not a bad goal, but when we are focused on how much better things were in the 50s, or any decade in America, we don't see the good that is going in other places. Take for instance Africa. In the midst of severe Muslim persecution, poverty, and disease, people are turning to Christ alone for salvation in droves.
In China and South Korea, Christianity is spreading.
These are the good days because we have hope and are able to see the power of the Gospel.
Things here in the States do not come close to how "bad" they are in Africa or in Asia, yet the Church thrives and the Gospel continues.
Let's drop the love affair with the 1950s and take a look around and see that these are the good old days too.
posted by Bobby's blog at 9:26 AM
1 Comments:
Amen. Good stuff.
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