fromtheeditor’sdesk
Do We Understand Our Times? T he year is still brand-new, and the inventories for 1955 barely complet ed; it is appropriate that we should ask ourselves: “What understand ing have w e of our times?” That our day is complex and difficult to analyze and comprehend cannot be denied. While we agree with the poet Browning when he wrote, “God’s in His Heaven,” it is sometimes hard to go along with the next line of his poem which declares, “ All’s right with the world.” When we open our morning papers and glance at headlines which portray a drink-dulled, sex-obsessed, dope-crazed civil ization bent on destroying itself as fast as it can, our reaction is inevitably the reverse and we find ourselves exclaiming, “ All’s wrong with the world!” Certainly in the face of the conditions which exist today, we cannot sing with any conviction that “ God is still on the throne” unless we are acquainted with the Scriptures. Therein lies the secret of understanding our times — knowing the Word of God. We must learn what He has to say about our civilization. We must recognize that as we near the end of the age we are not to expect moral and spiritual improvement to keep pace with the scientific discoveries, mechanical inventions, or even the intellectual advancement of our day. God is not taken by surprise by our times, and neither will we be, if we look into His Book. To understand our times, we also must realize that the Lord is not unaware of or indifferent to what is happening. Because He is God, He has infinite patience, and He is waiting for His time when He will step in and take over and thus bring an end to this headlong plunge of our civilization to destruction. Such long-suffering on His part (as in the days of Noah) is due to His mercy and love which is still extended to sinners. As long as final judgment is withheld, there is hope for the lost. The Holy Spirit is still here to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment to come. God will save those who come to Him through Christ and we Christians must be about our Father’s business, praying for those who know Him not, and witnessing to them, while it is day and we can work for our Lord. Furthermore, to understand our times, we must acknowledge that there never has been such an age. We live in the tensest, fastest, noisiest and yet in some ways the most enlightened period of the world’s history. Everything is stepped up to a frenzied, jet-propelled pace. The days of the quiet, meditative life are gone forever. But such times are a challenge to us and call for our very best. They separate the weak from the strong. To cope with the demands of 1956, we must live closer than ever to the Lord, and take from Him ever-increasing grace, strength and power required for such pressures as spirit, mind and body are called upon to endure. Our times are not beyond our God, and so they are not beyond us. The darkness only shows up the brilliancy of the light. He has asked of us: “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:15); “ For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:11-13). The year 1956 can be the greatest in our lives, if we correctly interpret our times, and walk in the light as He is in the light.
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