Modern People Word on the Week 6th November 2021.
It was back in 1983 that Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said, “Men have forgotten God”. Some of the out-working of this prophetic statement were evident at COP 26 Conference in Glasgow this week. They were seen in how the many ways of currently doing things, which harmed others, were being ignored.
However, if you look beyond the Conference you soon realise that Modern People are not blind to what is happening but rather intentional in dismantling the work of God. The downward progression has been well chartered in the fragmenting of family life and the ignoring of ethical standards in business. These have largely become detached from their biblical moorings.
What is now mainstream permits selfishness to flourish. Moral responsibility for one’s actions has left the stage. Glasgow, the city hosting world leaders, has herself seen the dilution of her motto from, “Let Glasgow flourish by the preaching of the Word and the praising of His name” to “Let Glasgow flourish”. And this only in the last few decades.
According to Paul David Tripp the DNA of sin is selfishness and he may well be correct. In his second letter to the Corinthians the Apostle Paul describes the converting love of Christ by stating that those who are alive in Christ should “no longer live for themselves” but for Jesus (Chapter 5 verse 15).
This implies that before they were converted believers once lived for themselves as others do and did not give God first place in their life. When this happens other things take over such as “my comfort, my pleasure and my success”. When I get these I am happy! We fail to see the needs of others less fortunate. We kick the aid can down the road as will happen in Glasgow. John Newton in his hymn ‘Glorious things of you are spoken’ has the following (often omitted) verse: –
Blest inhabitants of Zion,
Washed in the Redeemer’s blood!
Jesus, whom their souls rely on,
Makes them kings and priests to God:
‘Tis his love his people raises
Over self to reign as kings,
And as priests, his solemn praises
Each for a thank-offering brings.
It is this mastery over self that enables His people to rightly function. It comes from the Lord’s work in every heart that is open to him. (Revelation Chapter 1 verse 6)