Radical Christianity
Click, Click, Click... With remote in hand and switching through all the cable television channels almost so fast that the screens of each station blend with the next, "There ain't nothing good on!"
Junk, Junk, Junk... Tossing bulkmail letter after
letter, "Nothing but Junk mail!"
Shuffle, Shuffle, Shuffle... "Where's that article
on ...."
There's so much happening, so much being thrown out
before us on TV, computers, newspapers and magazines, junk
mail. The first impulse for some of us is "Ain't nothing
worth it."
Television, Radio, Computer telecommunications, Cable
TV, satellite access. While we are living in the age of
information We have a lot of it, but rather than being
valuable, it is a maze that we have to try to navigate, a
pile we have to dig through. While it can be useful, the
trash is collecting on the roadsides of these various
information highways, or else decorative taglines and
signatures clutter the views.
Vanity, Vanity, Vanity... As king of Israel, Solomon
had so much available to him and accessible with such ease,
one might guess his life was one of luxury. And yet, we
attribute the words of Ecclesiastes, "Vanity, vanity, vanity"
to this king. When he uses this word, the definition is not
one of being vain, or proud of one's beauty or other
characteristics. Instead, his reflection on this life (under
the sun) is that everything is vain, empty or useless.
We are so tempted to think MORE is BETTER. But, in so
many things we find that More is NOT better. More is just
more to dig through. We satisfy ourselves with this or that
pleasure or experience, but we never "fill". We just keep
several things going at once and run to something else when
we get a bit bored. In this computer age, even knowledge
(aka information) is taughted as valuable, almost
life-giving, and yet it is so limiting. As this writer puts
it, "Of making many books there is no end, and much study is
a weariness of the flesh." If he could see us today.
One would really have to read ALL of Ecclesiastes to get
a feel for what the author was saying about our life under
the sun. In the third chapter he relates, "I also
thought, ... Man's fate is like that of the animals; the
same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other.
All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the
animal. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same
place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. Who
knows ..." (Ecclesiastes 3:19-21) That's not far from the
secular perspective today.
That was centuries before the coming of Jesus and yet,
he knew and proclaims readily about the nature of God and the
place God has given man. "He has made everything beautiful
in its time. He has also set ETERNITY in the HEARTS of men;
yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to
end." Ecclesiastes 3:11
Life is short, and like Job says, "full of trouble." Job
14:1. This is life in the fallen nature. Paul focused on
both the problem and the solution when he says, "If we have
hope in this life only, we are men most miserable." We need
to view this life as it really is, SHORT and put our hope in
the future life.
Drink, Drink, Drink... Jesus cried out, "If any one
thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me,
as the scripture has said, 'Out of his heart shall flow
rivers of living water.'" John 7:37, 38.
Eat, Eat, Eat... Jesus said, "I am the bread of life;
he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in
me shall never thrist." John 6:35
Light, Light, Light... Jesus said, "I am the light of the
world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but
will have the light of life." John 8:12
The only way to find meaning in this life is to find our
place in a relationship with God, in a relationship made
possible by Jesus. With the spiritual nourishment that this
relationship provides, we can be assured that our lives will
continually be filled.
And, even with the worries of this world, we have Jesus'
assurance that He will guide us in the way we should go in
this life. And finally, it is because of our anticipation of
the life after death that we can find lasting hope and
faith. Paul thought of it this way,
"For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is
destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens. ... For while we are still
in this tent, we sigh with anxiety; ... He who has prepared
us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as
a guarantee. So we are always of good courage; we know that
while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord,
for we walk by faith, not by sight." II Cor 5:1-7
Next time you pick up the clicker and point it at the
TV, think about life. With Jesus, it can be more than a
Click, Click, Click.