|
"We've Come A Long Way, Baby?"
Each passing year the number of people who know how to trim a wick on a
kerosene lamp so it won’t smoke up the chimney is greatly diminished. When
electricity replaced kerosene, mechanical devices that were designed to reduce
work load and free up time proliferated – automatic washers replaced scrub
boards and dryers replaced clothes lines. We couldn’t survive without our
microwaves. Refrigerators are still called iceboxes in some settings without
the speaker knowing why.
Conveniences that have supposedly created more free time have prompted an
entertainment craze surpassing, perhaps, that of the Roman amphitheater days.
At our finger tips there are all kinds of entertainment – TV shows, movies, and
video games so real that the fired bullets automatically cause you to duck.
We travel the world with ease and have become so mobile that we hardly have
time for local church affairs. We can afford, because of affluence, things that
90% of the world cannot. Internet access has brought into our homes volumes of
information and contact with millions of people throughout the world – we should
be smarter, more knowledgeable and more productive than any generation before
us.
Prosperity has produced good things. It has allowed us to be able to support
the preaching of the gospel to the saving of many souls who otherwise could not
be reached and also relieve the needs of many brethren who might otherwise not
have enough to exist. It would seem to follow logically that we should have,
not only more time, but, also, greater productivity in the Lord’s work, because of the
efficiency of all our conveniences. But, in many instances, our religion has
become a proxy, “send money” religion without personal involvement, while we
spend our time for “fun stuff.”
In spite of the good that affluence has brought us, it has not come without a
great price!!! The more we have, the more we become slaves to taking care of
our “things.” The more we have, the more they distract us from eternal things,
because we begin to equate "living" with “things” instead of relationship with
God.
And, along with the good things that come with prosperity also comes a greater
propensity for temptation. Our abundance has made available things that we once
could not afford. Brother Jeff Archer made a good point about why David and
Bathsheba sinned – they were available for each other.
Internet access to good information has also created greater availability for
the evil of pornography. Accessibility of recreation and entertainment has also
exposed us to everything produced for worldly entertainment. Prosperity has
made available things that otherwise would not be a temptation. We have begun
to rub elbows with the life style of the rich and that intimate association puts
us in circumstances where socially acceptable sins like promiscuity, drinking
and drugs no longer offend us.
The inclination to succumb to temptation is greater, because we can afford
what we once could not! Availability can weaken our defenses. If we are not
extremely careful, we will exchange the eternal God for the god of pleasure.
And, if we are unwilling to see what is taking place, worldliness will consume
us. It’s not that “We’ve come a long way, baby,” it is “We’ve gone a long way
back.” – Jim R. Everett
|
