When in the Course of Human Events...

[William Lang]

There is much going on in our world. The Church stands challenged every day as wars and conflicts escalate and the influence of Christianity seemingly diminishes. So we look at the events of our human saga and respond to them. The question is “How?” This is especially important when we see those who try to read their own philosophies into the teaching a Scriptures. This spiritual warfare is intensifying almost daily.  Our society tells us that we must compromise and leave behind the teachings that are seen as archaic in a modern world. Hence the body of believers is looked at as being out of touch or even insensitive to a world that has misinterpreted the true meaning of love and the necessity of having standards to live by.

 

We remember that we live in a fallen world which has at best only given lip service to any sense of deity. The truth is that human desires and passions have taken the place of God in the minds of most of the people we see. We are confronted by this fallen world and its deep rooted idolatry of the person.  Each generation seems to move further away from the truth that centers in the Almighty Creator.

 

So we look for a world in which God reigns. On the seventh day God rested and charged his ultimate creation, humankind, to be faithful and obedient to him, sharing in fellowship with the Divine and bringing His glory to our world. In a fallen world, the first place where God must reign is in our hearts. It is a true repentance from sin and returning to the fellowship with God that we must strive for on a daily basis.

 

Too often the body of believers has relinquished the understanding of faith to the hands of theologians, pastors and church leaders who may be a faithful guide or may not. If we are confronted by the question, “What is God’s will and how can I conform myself to it?” then we must be able to respond ourselves. This is a task that each believer must strive to work at daily. To respond responsibly requires Bible Study, prayer, meditation and being open to the leading of the Holy Spirit. It is necessary to understand fully the consequences of Jesus’ prayer, “Not my will Father but thy will be done”.  The old gospel song speaks to this, “Sweet Will of God still fold me over until I am fully lost in thee”. The path of the believer is to follow in the path of Jesus until the fallen world sees Jesus in His Church.

 

But this does not mean compromising the truth and standards of Scripture. Nor does it negate the statement, “God so loved the world, that He gave His Only Begotten Son”. This love that God has is an acceptance of the sinner coupled with a hatred for the action of sin that is being done. This world, as created, was given order and life. Those who would distort this truth wish to remove the natural order and impose their so called enlightened philosophies in a chaos of the fallen. Therefore we must become fully obedient to the will of God. For it is in the obedience that we become more human for the image of God that we had been created in can be restored and the light of Christ, the true light, may shine through his people. To quote R.R. Reno, “This obedience is contagious. It gives us the courage and humility and wisdom to contribute to the humanization of the world.

[Dr. Henry, President of the AOCI]

Amen Brother!  Amen.