Reading the Signs/Live It!

Looking Out for Number One is a well-known book from the seventies. I wondered at the time, "Is there a problem with people not being selfish enough?"

You see, the seventies were known as "The Me Decade." Apparently as part of the response to a very unpopular war (Vietnam) and the mental anguish it caused the country, many in the younger generation turned their attentions to "making ME happy." Boy, what we lost.

Several incredibly destructive trends were set in motion during the sixties and seventies as a result of this "me focus." And they are still harming this culture even today:

• Recreational Drugs - I listened to a "Best of the 70's" album recently and was reminded of how the popular music of the time carried such a heavy theme of drugs. The Beatles were among those who contributed to popularizing drug use and making it acceptable among young people with such hits as "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Let It Be."


• Free Sex - "If it feels good, do it" was the mantra of the day. Forget the consequences, just enjoy the sex. (Another popular song of the day was "Love the One You're With.") Within that decade, unwanted teen pregnancies began to skyrocket, venereal diseases became national epidemics, pornography began to achieve mainstream status, and abortions became part of the cultural landscape.


• Easy Divorce - Changes in the laws made it easier to divorce. That--combined with the free sex , "I want to be happy" attitude of the times--started doing significant damage to the institution of marriage and to the kids hurt by the process. Today, only about half of marriages survive.


• Secularization of the Culture - You can imagine how each of these other trends flew in the face of most mainstream religions. The younger generation simply threw church overboard in favor of pursuing fun.

Thirty years on the other side of those trends, we can see the HUGE penalty extracted from the individuals that were caught up in the madness and the culture that was greatly diminished by it.

All of that said to emphasize the primary point of this week's message: When a person focuses on self, he misses the bigger, long-term picture. It's true of individuals; but it's also true of societies.

In today's culture, there is a dearth of individuals who have the ability to recognize harmful trends, articulate the damage that's being done, and then courageous enough to speak out against the interests who propagate the trend.

Each of us has an opportunity to perform that service for those in our spheres of influence. Live soberly, love those around you selflessly, and serve compassionately. And keep your eyes wide open.

Reading the Signs/Go Deep

I read an article about creative solutions, once, and found a story that speaks directly to the core of who we are as human beings.

The problem solved involved a very tall skyscraper and a very slow elevator. Complaints were sky high (rising faster than the elevator, apparently). But the cost to update the elevator was too costly for management to pursue. So what was the solution?

Some enterprising person decided they should line the wall surrounding the elevator at the ground floor level with mirrors. The complaints dropped precipitously. The conclusion? People were so interested in looking at themselves that they lost all track of the time. The delay suddenly wasn't an issue. After all, what better way to spend time than getting to know yourself better.

Self-absorption is my vote for the number one reason we fail to recognize and understand the times we live in. The Pharisees in the Scriptures quoted Monday were exactly that. The only real reason they were even talking with Jesus was that he was perceived as a threat to the Pharisees' positions of power. They were trying to "find dirt" on Jesus; but never succeeded.

In the meantime, they were missing out. Not only did they not recognize that this man was miraculously curing people who had been crippled from birth and begging on public streets for decades, they totally missed the fact that Jesus was fulfilling Scripture that they themselves had studied and taught.

It's no wonder so many in America seem clueless to the ill winds blowing in our society. This is an age of self-absorption. (All the evidence you need is a few hours watching reality television shows.)

When self is your whole world, your vantage point is very near-sighted indeed. You can't see beyond what immediately impacts you. Everything that happens around you is interpreted in the context of how it affects you today. There's no real insight into mega-trends that exist in society and that are unfolding over periods of years or decades. They are simply outside the realm of your world.

So the first step towards effective sign reading is to begin to observe the world beyond your space. We'll look at that and more later this week.

Reading the Signs/Think About It

"The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. He replied, "When evening comes, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,' and in the morning, 'Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times." (Matthew 16:1-3, NIV)

On a "Nature" documentary about Death Valley, the announcer described a sky with fast-moving cirrus clouds, heading east. A sure sign that winter is on its way, he said, and then he described the frantic activity of various animals that knew the seasons were changing and that time was short to prepare.

It seems that animals are often more astute than humans at reading the signs.

In the fragment of Scripture above, Jesus faced well-educated men who prided themselves on knowing everything there is to know about God; yet, they could not recognize the very Son of God who stood in their midst performing miraculous sign after miraculous sign.

We are so much like that. We fail to recognize the signs of the time and refuse to understand their ramifications and, thus, fail to get on top of the events of the day. Rather than riding the wave from the vantage point of a surf board, we find ourselves tumbling beneath the waves being taken someplace we don't want to go.

The times we live in are incredibly dynamic. The culture in our country in particular is changing in mindboggling mega-shifts. Are you aware of what's happening around you? What keeps us from seeing the signs of the times? And not just seeing the signs, but understanding them?

Think about it and we'll consider the possibilities Wednesday.
Take care!