Читать книгу So They Say - Robert H. Mounce - Страница 18

It is crystal clear that society is changing. Perhaps it always has but most informed observers tell us that the change in America during the last 50 years is significantly greater than in any previous time in history. So, if in fact we are changing, it may be well to take a look at where we are going.

Many would claim that we’re headed in the wrong direction. Eric Blair, the English writer we know as George Orwell, apparently felt that we had hit bottom. He said, “We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men.” Nothing can be accomplished until society recognizes it has been going in the wrong direction. Change itself is not progress. Progress means getting closer to where you want to be. More often than not it involves a radical change in direction. To step backward after making a wrong turn is actually moving forward. C S Lewis writes that progress is to turn-about when walking in the wrong direction, and that “the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man.” (Mere Christianity)

What is abundantly clear is that progress is impossible without a goal. If you don’t know where you’re going you will never get there. However, as a society we do not reflect on this crucial issue very often. There seems to be a scattered consensus that as a nation we would be better off if everyone could live more comfortably — have a better house, more expensive car, more money for things we want, etc. And the energies of many are directed toward that goal. Others have, for all practical purposes, dropped out of the race and are content to live on what happens to come their way.

My point of view is that as a society we are not finding contentment, not making progress toward something that provides satisfaction and builds a sense of self-worth, because we are headed in the wrong direction. When we make it to the top after a life time of strenuous involvement with the requirements of success, there is little or nothing of worth waiting for us. Of course, the Christian faith speaks directly to this issue. Knowing that there was no reasonable answer, Jesus asked, “What benefit is there if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?” (Matthew 16:26) Man was not created simply to accumulate stuff. In the deep recesses of his soul he finds no lasting satisfaction in anything short of fulfilling a spiritual destiny. God created us for fellowship with himself, so ultimately the only authentic progress is to move toward him.

I am aware that this sounds like a sermon, but it is intended as a valid observation about life. In my contacts throughout the last 90 plus years, it has been those people who have had the highest respect for the spiritual dimension of life who are most content and at peace with reality. No one has put it more succinctly than the French polymath, Blaise Pascal, who wrote, “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.” Goals exist to provide direction in life. The ultimate question is, “Where do you want to go?