Jacob Ninan
A girl in the 10th standard was complaining about her predicament. Till the 8th standard, she was studious and everything was fine. When she got into the next class, she began to seek fun of different types along with her friends, and her grades began to drop. Now that her final school examination was coming up at the end of the year, the school decided to provide some extra coaching and training for such students. This meant that she had to stay back after the regular school hours and this made her miss some of her fun times. She said, "The school has no right to make me stay back like this. They are making me lose my fun in life. All the other students are allowed to do what they like. By making this kind of distinction among the students, the management is making me feel as if I am inferior!"
Some of the older people who heard this told her that they could understand how she felt and that the school should not be making her feel bad! She went away feeling that she was justified in her complaints!
How is it that this girl could not understand that it was she who had got herself into this situation by neglecting her studies and that the school was actually trying to make extra efforts to help students like her to do better in the final examination?
This seems to be the age of 'self-esteem' where everybody seems to think they have a right to feel good about themselves and nobody has the right to make anyone else feel bad. On the moral side, people should never call sin 'sin', in order to avoid the sinner from losing his self-respect! For example, you cannot say that God does not approve of the LGBTQ lifestyle without getting brickbats thrown at you. Anyone who dares to point out sin becomes labelled as the worst sinner of all. Verses such as "Judge not" are misused at such times in a way that a saint who warns a sinner in God's name is made to look as if he has committed an unpardonable sin.
Empathy is over-emphasised in such a way that there is no place for delineating right and wrong. Those who point out that something is wrong are targeted and called 'without love', 'judgmental', 'fanatic', etc. Punishment for crime is being downplayed, for example, by pushing for providing TV, internet and games in the prisons for the worst type of criminals in the name of being humane. How much this has affected people's thinking all over the world can be seen from the fact that the concept of 'punishment' itself is becoming revulsive to many people.
People do not want to look at 'negative' aspects in themselves. All such things must be covered over with positive thinking that will make one feel good about oneself. Like the young girl in the above example, people think that others do not have any right to make them feel bad about anything in their life.
This mood has certainly affected Christians too! Just look at what gets many 'likes' and 'shares' in the social media! Ideas such as "God loves you," "You are precious to God," "God will make all things work for your good," etc., especially if they come along with good graphics or music, become very popular. Any word that gives a warning about sin or which asks for a change in thinking or behaviour gets ignored or pushed aside.
Yet, many Christians imagine that there is nothing inconsistent with such an attitude and saying how much they want to become like Christ. Why we want to become like Christ is because we are not like Him in many ways. To say that we want to become like Jesus and then be unwilling to look at where exactly we are unlike Him is incompatible with each other.
Just look at the Christian crowds around preachers who 'tickle their ears' and tell them what is pleasing for them to hear (2Tim.4:3) and who turn away from others who show the mirror of God's word to them so that they can see for themselves how they appear to God (Jas.1:23,24). Many Christians would rather listen to some preacher who keeps them entertained rather than others who care for them enough to tell them the truth as it is. The apostle Paul did not want to have the blood of any of his hearers on his hands, and so he took the trouble to share with them the whole counsel of God (Acts.20:26,27). Many people nowadays do not even bother to read the Bible, but satisfy themselves with what the pastor says or what they see on WhatsApp.
How do we read the word of God? Do we really want to know what God thinks about us and what He wants us to do? Jesus said that it is such people who will be able to get insight into His word (Jn.7:17). If we have such desire, then we will not read the Bible casually, but actually study it along with much prayer for understanding. Then the word of God becomes not just a mirror for us to see ourselves, but also a lamp for our feet so that we can know how to walk on (Psa.119:105).
When we read God's word in that way, one of the cries that come up from our heart is, "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?" (Rom.7:24). This cry comes equally desperately from sinners who see themselves as sinners for the first time as well as saints like the apostle Paul who see the depth of sinfulness in their lives even after walking with the Lord for a long time! These feelings of anguish are missing from those who just assume they have become Christians because they have repeated a prayer without repenting from their sins. Also, those who take for granted that all is well with their souls without bothering to stand before God's penetrating eyes cannot feel any such anguish because they can experience it only when they let the word of God cut through their self-defences and the masks they have put on before others (Heb.4:12,13).
On the other side, people's focus has moved on from becoming more self-aware to finding fault with others in such a way as to comfort themselves with the thought that they are not as bad as the others. For example, the LGBTQ crowd is unable to see what is going wrong with them, or where it is going to take them, but they are actively working on maligning others who warn them or are willing to help them. What they assume to be someone 'judging' them has become such a terrible sin in their eyes, and the calamity they are facing in their own lives totally escapes their notice!
Self-awareness is an ingredient that is missing from a lot of people, and which Satan is trying frantically to eliminate through a conspiratorial control of the media and what is projected to be 'progressive' thinking. The result is not progressive at all, far from it. People are becoming more and more unable, like the girl in the example, to have an insight about what is really going wrong with them. This is sweeping over the whole world at such a fast pace that godly people are wondering what is happening to the world. In politics, for example, there was a time when discovery of some corruption or criminal record spelt doom for that politician's career. Now, even when there are blatant violations of the law or morals, nobody is fazed by them. There is no shame for such a politician nor are the voters concerned about such factors!
In spite of what is going on, God still has His eyes looking for the few who will choose to be faithful to Him. That is what should motivate us.
-- Editorial in the Light of Life magazine, September 2019
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