With all the trouble we see in our nation and around the world, there are many who long for the good old days. I agree that some things were better in times past, but I don’t want to go back. Even if you could pick the place and the time, it would mean you and others would have to endure the bad along with the good.
Don’t forget, World War I, Stalin’s Purge, the Holocaust, World War II, the Korean Conflict, and the Vietnam War occurred within the last 110 years. Which one of those would you want to relive? If you chose a time before that, you should carefully choose the location and which side you are on, because you could be slaughtered or forced into slavery.
What about modern health care? Would you give it up and be threatened by polio, measles, malaria, leprosy, or the long list of other common diseases that are prevented or treatable now? Maybe you don’t want anesthesia if you need surgery? Medical care for the poor is a modern-day concept, so make sure you are rich, but money couldn’t buy what hadn’t been invented. Pick the wrong time or place and you may die of the Black Plague that killed half of Europe. JESUS heals but you should have faith to heal your hangnail before you give up medical care.
Maybe you just want to go back to where fathers worked, moms stayed home, kids played outside, and our way of life wasn’t threatened. Not sure where you got your info, but fathers often had to leave home to find work, and moms became poor when their husband’s divorced them or died, and children were abused, or got into trouble because they ran loose. Yes, many turned out alright but not all. Don’t forget that racial and sexual discrimination were legal during those good old days. Why would you want to go back there? But we were closer to GOD? Really? Yes, it was more acceptable to be religious and there was more respect for Churches and Ministers, unless you were Pentecostal. Even Hollywood had to be careful to not abuse Christians in their films and showed some respect.
It was good in some respects, but how many sheep did you feed (John 21:16)? Well, we couldn’t go very far from home, and it wasn’t polite to discuss religion in public. We went to the Church, and it was full on Easter, Christmas and when times got bad. When did you “go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15 KJV) as JESUS told us to do? We only had one car, and dad took that to work so we were on foot. That’s how JESUS and the disciples got around, and they changed the world. When did you start feeding sheep and preaching the gospel? I haven’t figured out when and how to do that, since I am so busy with work and family. Did you tell your neighbor or coworkers about JESUS? I’m a bit shy. Why don’t you use social media to feed some sheep and share the Good News? I just shared the Good News with more than 20 groups and pages today, potentially reaching thousands of people around the world with the life changing, soul saving message of JESUS CHRIST! With a little help, we can obediently “preach the gospel to every creature” and see what GOD does with that.
Don’t long for “The Good Old Days” but walk as the “new creature” GOD can make of you right now and start “feeding sheep’ and sharing the gospel (Good News) with every creature!
Wayne Lance – That’s Good News to Share!