It is common to hear that, by preaching the Gospel, we are changing the world. Is that true? I hear pastors preach that the world is in rough shape and that this is proof that Jesus will return at any moment. Those are two very different things. Yes Jesus could return at any moment. No, the world is not as bad as they say. Or, if the world is terrible, then we have done a lousy job changing it.
There have been times in my lifetime when the world was much worse. The Jesus people revival, of which we were a part, came at a time when the social fabric of our society was being torn apart. Revolution, unrest, riots, assassinations; the beginning of the sexual revolution, the feminist revolution, etc. Revival interrupted the direction of our country for a while. But it did not change the world.
Our mission is not to change the world, but to be salt and light to the world. We are to have an influence wherever we go. Revival will change the church, and often the world will not even know it happened.
I know that changing the world sounds good. I understand the "revival or revolution" that preachers preach. But lets be honest. If we are changing the world, we are not doing a very good job of it.
We have a limited time to do what we do. Not because of the end of time, but it will be the end of us. And because we don't feel the need to record our theology, not many people after us will ever know that we existed.
It might do us well to study what we can of past revivals and religious movement to see what happened to them. It will not prevent us from our own demise, but at least it will give us hope that we can contend for the faith of our fathers a little while longer than otherwise might happen.
No comments:
Post a Comment