JR. Forasteros - November 6, 2011
What's Behind Us
We live in a world shaped by choices other people have made. We live in an inheritance that seems pretty broken most of the time. It's easy to feel trapped by what's been chosen for us. But God gave Ezekiel a message for the Israelite Exiles that we need to hear too. God says that we are responsible to choose God here and now, in our time. That we will be held accountable not for what others have done to us but what we choose. What's behind us doesn't define us.
From Series: "This is Not the End"
We often look at the way our culture is headed and lament what we've lost. But God is preparing something new, something better. By listening to the voices of Israelites who lived after the Exile, we can learn how to hope in God's new thing. Because this is not the End!
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Over the last 100 years, our cultural attitude towards the End of the World has taken a fascinating shift. At the end of the 1800s and up until about 1915 or so, most Americans thought Jesus was coming back any day. The number of rapture predictions and End Times scenarios was staggering. And even those who weren’t Christians were predicting that the 20th century would be the new golden age of humanity.
Of course the 1900s didn’t go that way – instead it was a century of endless war, crushing world-wide depression and devastating new technologies like nuclear, chemical and bio-weaponry.
Today, we don’t look forward to the Second Coming. In fact, if you look around at our popular culture, it’s safe to say we’re downright terrified at the idea of the End of the World. How many people do you know who are a little bit worried that those Mayans might be right about December 21? End of the World movies have always been popular, but in the last few years, we’ve seen a higher percentage of them than ever. Two of the most popular shows on TV right now are The Walking Dead and Revolution, both of which ask, What would happen if we lost everything?
That’s really the question the End of the World makes us ask: What if we lost everything? What if it all just went away? Or worse, what if it was all taken away?
Those are scary questions to ask, especially around this time of year. Because for many in our culture, Christmas can end up being all about stuff. More stuff. New stuff. Buying the right stuff. Maybe you can’t relate to this, but Christmas can bring out the worst in me.
that’s the thing about Christmas. For all its, there’s that real ugliness, too. Anyone else notice how quickly and seamlessly the beautiful act of giving a gift someone else would like can transform into an ugly quest to be the perfect present giver? For everyone who truly loves spending time with their families, how many of us experience pain, tension and loss at this time of year, too? And if your schedule is anything like mine, you’re busier this time of year than any other. Between endless Christmas parties and traveling to celebrate with friends and family and rushing around to find all those perfect presents, a quite night at home may just have to wait until January.
Maybe it’s good that New Years Resolution time is so close to Christmas! We can nearly kill ourselves at the end of this year with stress and business and spending, then turn around and promise to be better next year.
