"No great improvement in the lot of mankind is possible until a great change takes place in the fundamental constitution of their modes of thought." -John Stewart Mill
I must agree with Jerram Barrs when he writes in The Christian and Society about the dullness, apathy and self-fulfilment of our society and their impact on all parts of life. He notes that "we [Christians] have a tremendous responsibility before God to provide that challenge in the modes of thought of our culture- to be a challenge, to be a light and to provide an alternative". He is right. God calls us to be different. God calls us to bring flavor to this dull world and be the salt of the world.
"We are entering an era where a great dullness, so deep that no one can fathom it, is going to descend on us like a cloud." -Manning Clark
There were two different Christian's responsibilities in society that Barrs lists that stood out to me. The first one being - prayer for those in authority. I thought, of course we pray for the leaders of Slovakia. Almost every Sunday we pray that the leaders of the ruling parties, our prime minister and president would make wise decisions and lead our country the right way. But not very often do we pray that the Holy Spirit would powerfully work in their lives convicting them of their need of Jesus Christ as their Savior. It seems like we are too pessimistic to pray for their salvation. We see them as too wicked to be able to recognize that the "bad things" they do are an offense to the Holy God. The one who put them in their position in the first place. It is easier for each one of us to make bitter sarcastic comments about our leaders than to pray for them faithfully and ask the Lord to change their modes of thought. I personally gave up on some of our leaders a long time ago. I hope there are people out there who didn't.
Second - we must be prepared to honor and obey governments. I started watching the news more lately and I'm trying to keep myself better informed about things going on in Slovakia and everywhere else in the world. A lot of what the media chooses to communicate to us is political. Everybody is paying close attention to president Obama's every little step. Everybody talks about the injustice in Iran. We (Slovaks) discuss the corruption, lobbyism, extreme nationalism of some. I must confess that I am not ready to honor men like Mr. Slota, Fico or Harabin who seem to be breaking all possible rules and yet stay unpunished.
All that said, I am a Christian and I am part of the society and it is my responsibility to pray for my leaders and to be prepared to honor and obey them. Everytime I watch the news these days my anger reminds me of how poorly I am doing. I am not taking my responsibilities seriously enough to make me act differently. And I think this is not just my personal problem. It is a problem of many Christians who just like me don't realize the seriousness of God's calling for our lives to be different.
I must agree with Jerram Barrs when he writes in The Christian and Society about the dullness, apathy and self-fulfilment of our society and their impact on all parts of life. He notes that "we [Christians] have a tremendous responsibility before God to provide that challenge in the modes of thought of our culture- to be a challenge, to be a light and to provide an alternative". He is right. God calls us to be different. God calls us to bring flavor to this dull world and be the salt of the world.
"We are entering an era where a great dullness, so deep that no one can fathom it, is going to descend on us like a cloud." -Manning Clark
There were two different Christian's responsibilities in society that Barrs lists that stood out to me. The first one being - prayer for those in authority. I thought, of course we pray for the leaders of Slovakia. Almost every Sunday we pray that the leaders of the ruling parties, our prime minister and president would make wise decisions and lead our country the right way. But not very often do we pray that the Holy Spirit would powerfully work in their lives convicting them of their need of Jesus Christ as their Savior. It seems like we are too pessimistic to pray for their salvation. We see them as too wicked to be able to recognize that the "bad things" they do are an offense to the Holy God. The one who put them in their position in the first place. It is easier for each one of us to make bitter sarcastic comments about our leaders than to pray for them faithfully and ask the Lord to change their modes of thought. I personally gave up on some of our leaders a long time ago. I hope there are people out there who didn't.
Second - we must be prepared to honor and obey governments. I started watching the news more lately and I'm trying to keep myself better informed about things going on in Slovakia and everywhere else in the world. A lot of what the media chooses to communicate to us is political. Everybody is paying close attention to president Obama's every little step. Everybody talks about the injustice in Iran. We (Slovaks) discuss the corruption, lobbyism, extreme nationalism of some. I must confess that I am not ready to honor men like Mr. Slota, Fico or Harabin who seem to be breaking all possible rules and yet stay unpunished.
All that said, I am a Christian and I am part of the society and it is my responsibility to pray for my leaders and to be prepared to honor and obey them. Everytime I watch the news these days my anger reminds me of how poorly I am doing. I am not taking my responsibilities seriously enough to make me act differently. And I think this is not just my personal problem. It is a problem of many Christians who just like me don't realize the seriousness of God's calling for our lives to be different.
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