Each generation makes the same claim “It’s never been this bad before!”
Consider this for a moment, this planet has survived a global flood,
an ice age, cataclysmic volcanic eruptions, the separation of the continents,
major and minor earthquakes, and incredible weather events. Yet our generation is declaring that things
have never been as bad as they are right now.
In every generation the elderly howl in disgust with the behavior of
modern youth. This too is a repetitious
cycle. Quotes attributed to ancient
scholars like Aristotle and Plato decry the behavior of young people.
“Our youth now love luxury.
They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their
elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders
enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble
up their food and tyrannize their teachers.”- Socrates[1]
The
reality is that each generation is guilty of wallowing in a self-indulgent pity
party in which they proclaim “It cannot
get any worse!”
These attitudes are not confined to
non-Christian cultures. Every generation
from the resurrection of Christ has proclaimed that Jesus must be returning
soon because things cannot possibly get any worse. Some have gone so far as to even set dates
for the return of the Messiah based upon what they claim is exhaustive study of
Scripture and correlation of world events.
This is maddening because as Solomon declares the events of world
history are constantly repeating themselves with new names and faces. Jesus declared that His return would be
preceded by
“wars and rumors of wars. See
that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various
places. All these are but the beginning
of the birth pains. "Then they will
deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by
all nations for my name's sake. And then
many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead
many astray. And because lawlessness
will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.”[2]
At
what point in human history have these things been absent? I don’t want anyone to misunderstand what I
am saying because my intent is not to discourage the vigilance that Christ
commanded His followers to display. I simply
want encourage us to remember that our vigil is guided by the Holy Spirit and
not by our human eyes. As Christians we
must stand before the hopeless world and proclaim the message of hope, the
Gospel. We cannot fulfill the Great
Commission and declare that humanity is a lost cause at the same time.
