Lagging Behind the Times
Not that I speak from want; for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. Philippians 4:11 NASB
From want – Whenever I go to the Apple store for a training session, I always encounter a line of people standing outside waiting for the store to open (now you know that I go very early). “Why are all those people here?” I used to ask. “Oh, they’re waiting to see if we have any iPhones in stock today.” Ah, the need for the new. That helps me understand Paul. Paul doesn’t say that he has no needs. He says that he isn’t in need of the latest. He’s content (now) to have the last generation phone, the used car, the second-hand coat, the used book. New doesn’t sparkle quite as much as it used to because he has learned to be content with what he has.
Oh, do we need this lesson. We live in the latest and greatest world. This year’s new fashion color. The latest technology. The new, bright and shiny. The future is now. Everywhere we look we are told that what we have now isn’t quite good enough. In fact, if you still have yesterday’s phone or car or job or house, you’re not really a part of the great society. Perhaps most importantly, if you still have yesterday’s values, you are certainly destined for the scrap heap. Imagine a culture that operates on the basis that whatever is old is no longer good. Oh, you don’t have to imagine it. You already live there. And now you know what happens when the culture embraces this foolishness. It leaves behind the very ideals, values and efforts that produced the society in the first place. Whatever is old no longer has value. The social Darwinians win.
Paul and the revelation of YHWH in Scriptures take a very different approach. Heschel summarizes it poignantly: “To believe is to remember.” God is old! His values, His directions, His point of view are old. If I am going to proceed toward the Lord, I must treasure what is old. That’s why Paul can say, “Hey, I don’t need the latest and greatest. I have learned to be content with what God gives, with who God is, right where I am.”
I must admit that “new” has a very seductive appeal. In a culture that looks only toward the future, “new” carries enormous social meaning. But I often find that the seduction of “new” leaves me feeling empty with what I have now. I discover that I am always looking for something over the horizon rather than valuing those things God has put into my hand today. I am eternally wanting instead of eternally grateful. Yesterday I went to the store with Matthew, age 7. He only wanted to look at the toys. I said to him, “But you just got presents for Christmas.” His reply was the perfect reminder of our cultural perspective. “But my birthday is coming.” Out with the old, in with the new.
Perhaps today I need to sit still and thank God for trusting that I will properly use what He has already given. Perhaps I need to start with the list of things remembered, the treasures in the barn God has so graciously provided. Perhaps I will discover that I am far ahead with what I already have because I treasure the Giver.
Topical Index: new, content, from want, Philippians 4:11
Jan 21/14 I am sorry but this particular phrase was very disturbing to me.
in this particular teaching” Learned to be content”, I understand that it was mention the illustration about Michael your son looking in a store for toys.
and it was mention that he has just
receive some presents during Christmas,
I was under the impression that for a person that know and understand
the scripture so clear and also the Hebrew language,{ the word Christmas} will not be mention as an illustrations. or even practice.
specially when we understand the meaning of this celebration.
What is your understanding about this holyday.
By the way I sure do love your teachings very much, each tittle is very unique, how do you come up with them?
To be able to learn the actual meaning in the Hebrew language it has been a real blessing to me. love it
How far have we gone away from the real meaning in the scriptures.
Any way, Shalom.
Helena
IT may be disturbing to here about Christmas in an illustration, but the reality is that we live in Babylon where Christmas and Easter are a part of the culture we are trying to change. So we have to deal with that, not run away from it. Read what God says to Jeremiah about what His people are to do when they are in Babylon. My effort is to wake us up and get us to make differences, not to run and hide. So Matthew knows about Christmas because all his friends and most of his family don’t know anything except what the culture teaches him. My job is to get him, even at age 7, to start asking questions.
God amazes us with revolutionary change!
Change in us.
Among the many sweeping shifts in my new life in Him,
was an almost instant removal of any attachments to “stuff”.
I was amazed! I had so much “stuff”.
It was as if God was saying, “This is My kingdom – – – we do
things differently than they do in the world.”
Of course the biggest shift was my precious preoccupation
with myself, my views, my needs, my wants, my wishes,
my pains, my successes, my this, my that, my, my, my, my.
“Behold, all things have become new.” 2 Cor 5:17
True, God may be old as Skip points out, but everything
about Him and His transplanted life in me became brand-
spanking new! And quite overwhelmingly so.
Contentment with everything in life and the new realizations
that came with it became the new norm. I couldn’t believe it
was happening because contentment was not my middle name.
But isn’t that what happens when you surrender your whole self
to Him? At least, that’s what happened to me.
Based on resource allocation,…. our country’s biggest enemy must be boredom.
No quest about that. Now ask why?
Skip: Do you think the Feasts and Holy Days of the Old Covenant have been done away? Or are they to be kept today as a picture of past and future events?
to believe is to remember. Hard to do that if you don’t celebrate anything from the biblical past.
A hardy AMEN to that!!!
Skip wrote:
You already live there. And now you know what happens when the culture embraces this foolishness. It leaves behind the very ideals, values and efforts that produced the society in the first place. Whatever is old no longer has value. The social Darwinians win.”
Yep. Most of our kids (ages 36-28) see us as old and outdated and of no use to them or their children. However, my heart has gotten “used to” that emotional abuse.
Today, my thoughts focused on poor little Matthew being trained in pagan ways. Since we walked away from xmas and easter, we have found so much freedom and much wisdom. How blind we once were! O GOD, please keep our eyes and ears and hearts open to Your Ways and eager to sluff off the desires of the world, the flesh and the devil (spiritual pagan rituals.)
Well, today’s TW certainly smacked me square between the eyes. Yes, indeed. When I first discovered Apple products and made a radical departure from Window$, I certainly was the new gadget fool, or rather, FOOL! Still am to some extant, but not quite as radical as I use to be. So, I do see a little improvement. Hooray.
My middle son is the same way, so while he learns that lesson I get to see, touch, taste and feel all the new stuff without having to invest in it. Then I’m at a place to better see that I don’t really need the latest, greatest anymore.
Along those lines, that same son just had his first son (well, his wife did all the hard work!). I looked at amazement at all the equipment in this new delivery wing of our hospital. It was like a set off a Star Trek/Wars movie! Really amazing. They had every piece of equipment and gadget to answer every possible problem that might arise in a delivery. During the journey to the magic delivery dilation number she was experiencing pain, pressure, stress and worry that is related to a first delivery. Strange new territory for the two new parents.
I thought, and later shared with the two of them, man!-you could be doing this whole scenario in a log cabin deep in the woods miles and miles away from civilization, you know, like they did in the “olden” days. It changes ones whole outlook while sitting in a Star Trek delivery room. Gratitude and thankfulness at all the stuff and help available.
Yep, thank YHWH. He gives and gives and gives. Most of the time I walk right past it taking it for granted and without thanks to him.
Interesting timing, i was just thinking about something similar to this yesterday, but rather instead of an iPhone, it was the “relevant church”. I was pondering how much energy, time and money has gone into the institutional mentality of the “church” and it’s need to be relevant. Clearly, just another form of social darwinism at its best, or maybe worst. It’s unfortunate that the “church” has focused so much attention on relevance that it seems to no longer care about history, culture or context. I believe a rabbi once said, they will believe what their itching ears want to believe. We wonder why cultures and empires come to an end, clearly God has some hand in this, but i would also assert man and his willful act of historical ignorance can also lead to destruction. If people don’t know the past, other people can change it. What a sad place to be.
That’s my favorite Heschel quote. 🙂 For me “To believe is to remember” is a simple summation of our walk of faith.
I think the lack of appreciation for what God has given us is about people as well as things. But it’s not just about the old. It’s about not appreciating what God has given. Spouses leave because they are bored with the other or tired of the hassles and someone new is exciting; people leave friends for the same reasons. (Some) ministries leave people because it’s not the group they “wanted” to reach. Taking a renewed perspective that God has given you these relationships to nurture and value makes those old relationships sparkle again.
I know a Jewish organization that laments “not reaching their people” but can’t seem to see that God has sent them large numbers of gentiles to love and absorb into their midst. Being content with the people God has given you is the magic formula for staying power when relationships get difficult — and let’s face it, all relationships get difficult eventually. Familiarity does breed contempt but that is the moment that treasuring the person God has given you becomes critical…. So (with a little paraphrase): “Not that I want (someone, something, someplace new), for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.” Whatever, whoever God gives us is for a purpose. What we must LEARN is to not take it for granted.
Great points Suzanne.