The Standard
December 26, 1999
Dear Friends:
The other day, I happened upon a very interesting trivia question – what two words did the censors delete from the 1939 movie "It's A Wonderful Life" starring Jimmy Stewart? The amazing answer: creep and lousy.
This little piece of trivia impacted me profoundly. What sort of world have we made for ourselves in the last 60 years? We have all become so desensitized to the immorality around us that we fail to see the extent of our decline.
A few years back I had a similar experience. I was visiting the Schooley's Mountain Bible Camp. Up there, the brethren have a quaint little tradition of taking visitors under the "bell tree" and asking them their opinions on Bible passages, morality, etc.. The bell tree is a beautiful tree in the middle of camp where the bell hangs to signal the twice daily Bible studies and other scheduled events.
Anyway, while visiting, an older brother was in the middle of asking me several questions when he asked "Brother Tucker, what is your opinion of these comedians like Bob Hope, Jack Benny and Milton Berle?" Without a lot of thought I shot back that I didn't see anything wrong with these types of comedians. They told "knock, knock" jokes and stuff like that, right? The older brother pointed his finger at me and said, "Brother Tucker, you know what your problem is? You're lukewarm!."
Only later did the impact of what he said really hit me. This brother thought Jack Benny and the like were risqué. If he thought that about these old comedians, what would he think about new comedians like Jerry Seinfeld or Adam Sandler? Maybe this old brother had a very valid point.
I think the problems come when we let the world dictate our standard of morality. When we set the world as our moral standard instead of the Bible, we can always be "better than average" and still be bad. The problem is only being made worse by the fast decline in the world's standard.
As we approach the year 2000, my New Year's wish is that we would all thoroughly examine ourselves in the light of God's standard, Jesus Christ. We cannot change the world. It is bad and is getting worse. At the same time this is both distressing and wonderful. The worse it gets, the more it signals the Lord's return. The danger we all face is being sucked into the vortex of this immoral whirlwind that has swept over the face of the planet.
"But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God– having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them." (2 Tim. 3:1-5 NIV)
I will leave you with the words of David to his son, Solomon, who was being left with the task to build the temple. Let us likewise continue in the new millenium to build the Lord's house in the face of adversity. "Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the LORD God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee…" (1 Chron. 28:20)
Happy New Year!
