September 1, 2025
Beloved of God,
Some of us are profoundly concerned by the drift of our culture at large.
Generalization being only generally true, there are plenty of exceptions; but overall more and more people in our culture have an over-developed sense of entitlement with an under-developed sense of duty. More and more people are self-absorbed and oblivious of the welfare of others. More and more are caught up in their own pleasures, comforts and specific interests; and less and less inclined to take care of others in a sustained way.
Those of us who think we are seeing these downward trends do well to remember that every generation tends to view the generation that follows it as declining in quality of character and conduct (even while acknowledging better character and conduct in some respects). Yet, some of us who think we see an ongoing, unfolding degeneracy in our culture perceive that the previous generation was right about our own generation’s descent into degeneracy, and that a continuing pervasive pattern is underway.
If we think like that, we must bear in mind that lamentation and complaining are in the long-run unhelpful, if not detrimental.
We must also bear in mind that the best hope for a turnaround lies, not in ourselves and not in anything we might do, but in a one-of-a-kind Person: Jesus Christ, Son of God, and the perfect human being. He can recreate people, structures and systems. He can pervade every aspect of human existence with a spirit of compassion, justice and grace.
We are not to be scolds or the smugly self-righteous. We are to be witnesses to the One who saved us from ourselves and who has, without making us anywhere near perfect yet, changed the trajectory of our lives so that we are more and more embodying some of God’s love, compassion, fairness and righteousness. We may still have a long way to go, but we are a lot better than we used to be – and He is not finished with us!
The good news we have to share with everyone is that He is eager to do the same for anyone who will allow Him to. The good news is that He has been so good to us, not because we have any special degree of goodness or are worthier than anyone else, but just because He is that good – and cares that much about everyone equally.
The purpose of our lives as disciples of Jesus is to open the eyes of others to who He is and what He can do, and to encourage folks to give Him a second look, that He might win them over to a friendship with Him and a chance to uplift with Him whatever part of the culture they can impact.
May Jesus and His saving grace be our focus, our hope and the Gift we pass on wherever we can!
Warmly in Christ,
Pastors Rob & Adele Langworthy
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