Revival Restores Christians affected by the Impact of the World
by Henry Teichrob
Part 2
The mind of the casual Christian is suffering in several ways.
Secondly the impact of the world on the mind of the Christian distorts his "world view". Modern man holds a world-view which rules out God's part in the affairs of men. He claims history probably has no meaning because it is largely the product of accident. No lessons can be learned from it with any certainty. God is not the God of history, therefore he looks to government for the solution to problems. He accepts laws made according to sociological trends rather than moral judgments. He is prepared to accept a good measure of tyranny provided he keeps his security and his affluence. The Christian whose mind is squeezed into this mold loses sight of the Biblical perspective of time and eternity. Calvary, the focal point of history, God's sovereignty, Christ's incarnation, His resurrection, His redemptive work and His coming again become jargon for spiritual discussions and are strangely irrelevant to the day-to-day affairs o life. His world-view is humanistic. He has lost the sense of involvement in history. The salt has lost its savor. Revival restores the Biblical world-view. The heavenly citizenship supersedes the earthly. With feet firmly on the ground our hearts are in heaven. Christ again is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Thirdly, the impact of the world on the mind of the Christian destroys his Biblical "self-image". This brings about devastating ruin in social terms. Only the revelation of truth contained in the Scriptures is adequate to give man the true understanding of himself. The fact that man was created in God's image, that he is ravaged by sin, that he is in bondage until set free by the power of the Gospel, that he is able to experience the new birth, that victory is possible, are truths unacceptable to the mind of modern, secular man. He prefers to explain himself and his actions in terms of hereditary and environmental factors. Thus the man with the uncontrolled temper explains that he inherited it from his father and expresses it when irritable by his environment. His self-image rules out sin. The messages the world sends through the mass media party this humanistic self-image. God is ruled out and sin is rationalized. Revival restores to the Christian the potential of finding his true self-image. He discovers he is neither the victim of circumstances nor the expression of his heredity. The power of the Holy Spirit in his life enables him to choose the will of God and find in Him the fulfillment which selfish living denied. As a son of God, the process of being conformed to the image of Christ continues. Destiny lies in decision. Freedom is truly realized.
Few thoughtful Christians deny the great need for a spiritual awakening in our times. The need for society to return to the Biblical absolutes which have been exchanged for humanism's relatives, is imperative. History teaches us that the beginnings of an awakening are found in small numbers of people genuinely repenting (change of mind) and meeting God in a deeper way. He restores individuals, families, churches, communities and nations. Revival is not an emotional outburst with sensational experiences. It is simply a return to the way of the Cross. That is our need today.
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