Simply Drifting?

I asked myself 3 questions today. After answering myself – a little tentatively – I’m sorely dismayed.

What do you and I stand for?

What do we live for?

What does our society value?

All around the world, the human state of affairs is in shambles. It doesn’t matter whether the country is rich, poor or in-between. Third-world nations like Afghanistan and Burma are still fighting for human rights. Nations living in extreme poverty, surviving amidst famine, war and natural disaster are nowhere near peace. Then there are the wealthy, developed nations, already rich and comfortable; they have gotten past fighting for human rights.

Unfortunately now, they’re taking human rights overboard and confusing right & wrong. They demand rights to marry homosexuals, for gays to adopt children, the rights to remove Christian studies from schools because it “offends” them, for minors (under age of 16) to have abortions without the consent of parents, etc, etc. Does that alarm you?

I recently read about the Australian Sex Party and their wayward policies. This is their “mission statement”:

The Australian Sex Party is a political response to the sexual needs of Australia in the 21st century. It is an attempt to restore the balance between sexual privacy and sexual publicity that has been severely distorted by morals campaigners and prudish politicians.

Ha-ha-ha. I laugh, but it is a grim one. This is the society I live in.

Where is GOD in the picture?

When researchers at National Study of Youth & Religion in US took a close look at religious beliefs held by American teens, they found that the faith described by most came down to something the researchers called "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism."

What? Moralistic Therapeutic Deism consists of beliefs like these: 1. "A god exists who created & ordered the world, and watches over human life on earth." 2. "God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible & by most world religions." 3. "The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself." 4. "God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when needed to resolve a problem." 5. "Good people go to heaven when they die."

After more than 3,000 interviews with American teens, researchers reported that most responded with a shrug or “whatever” when asked about their religion & faith. "For most teens, nobody has to do anything in life, including anything to do with religion. ‘Whatever' is just fine, if that's what a person wants," researchers said.

So THIS is what we’ve come down to. Whatever, I’ll live my life. I don’t have to care what happens to the rest of the world. I don’t have to be accountable. God is totally out of the picture. And I’m totally cool with that.

I admit I’ve been complacent. When things get too comfy you forget what matters, what you live for, what you stand for. Living in good conditions is perhaps a much more “precarious” position compared to poverty & danger. Why? It may be a worse thing to be where everything SEEMS all good – we tend to become selfish & faithless. God barely needs to be in the picture, except when we’re out of options.  

BUT FAITH ISN’T ABOUT OPTIONS!!!

So here’s the biggest, sneakiest, underlying deception – we’re deceived to THINK that we’re OK; we don’t have to do anything purposeful about our lives & talents. We can live & let live. We’ll enjoy ourselves, make money & live “successfully” – if that is how you define success.

Roderick Meredith, editor in chief of Tomorrow’s World says,

“People who call themselves Christians are, more and more, becoming like the world, instead of becoming lights to the world!”

SO WHAT DO I STAND FOR?

There are people who stand for something and fight for it,

There are others who perhaps, stand for something, but do nothing about it,

And finally, there are those who don’t even know what they stand for!

Those who have no clue what they believe in, what they’d fight for & cling on to despite opposition are content with flowing downstream like everyone else.

I’ve been in that state before – SIMPLY DRIFTING… neither anchoring myself, nor swimming against the current, nor the least “treading water” to save myself from rapidly drifting downstream. Oh the tragedy! But I did wake from that lull, the horrible state of spiritual depravity and aimlessness.

Yet I was still living life!  I wasn’t sitting in my room depressed or anything. Life was good like everyone else. And that was the problem. I was drifting along with everyone! It’s so easy to slip under the deception that everything’s OK – maybe on the outside. But God helped me realize the sorry state of affairs of my inner being. The smog lifted, and the light shone through.

I realize the only thing that can save me from being deceived by this world that eat, sleeps and parties is the Truth. Go back to God’s word – even if it doesn’t make sense at first, just keep reading the Bible. Ask God, and it will come to you. The Truth will sift your mind of everything and chuck out the crap, lies & misconceptions.

The society you & I live in has gone haywire. What’s true, they call false or old-fashioned. What’s a lie, they prefer to believe as true. They try to sound smart & question the truth. In class the other day, after some discussion, a guy said in a cocky tone, “Why should we believe in God? There is no God. Didn’t you read of the priests & whoever who raped kids and stuff?”

Precisely my point – people find excuses to not believe! Do you look at man’s failure and sin, and use it as an excuse to refute God’s gift of salvation? They are two separate things! Precisely because man has fallen short, God sent Jesus Christ to make right, to die for us no matter how undeserving we are, so that all man can be saved. If only you RECEIVE the gift of God. That simple.

But people prefer to walk away or discard God’s gift. And for some of us who’ve already received, we leave it to collect dust somewhere in the attic of our hearts. We avoid the truth because it stings with the notion of repentance & turning away from selfish living. But we forget what comes after. Jesus said He came to give all those who believe an abundant life, with new hope, something to stand for, strength to withstand the current of the norm and soar above it all!

The time will come when each of us will have to decide whose side we’re on. Why not search & make the decision now? It’s hard to “stand” if you haven’t an anchor to hold your ground, a hope to cling on to & fall back on! The answer is right where you are. Christian or not, you can call out to Jesus. “We need to take time to decide what we really believe in, what we are willing to fight for, and if need be, die for,” as Roderick Meredith said.

You’re either black or white. You can’t be neither. You can’t be sitting on the fence; it’ll hurt in the long run… So don’t waste away your years drifting aimlessly! Don’t arrive at the end & only begin to wake up. Some people don’t even have the luxury to “arrive” – it is simply THE END in a blink of an eye. And that’s the terrifying reality for a lot of people out there...

Don’t be one of them.

Solem Deum Timidus | Only Fear God,

Janielle