Good 'ol days
There is (very understandably!) a lot of talk now about “things” getting “back to normal”. They won’t. They will. Little agreement about what “normal” even is. Voices raised.
As if it weren’t the case that every generation looks back and longs for the “good old days”. Not everyone, of course. But enough that nostalgia maintains a hefty market share, generation after generation.
Here’s what the Preacher says about it: “Say not, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’ For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.” (Ecclesiastes 7:10)
Truly, nothing new under the sun! Three thousand years ago, people were longing for the good old days! It wasn’t bright then, and hasn’t gotten any smarter.
Let’s stop and ask ourselves a couple questions. Foremost – How far back are we yearning to turn the clock? No matter where we set it, we will find tragedy of one kind or another, affecting people in one place or another. The fact is, there isn’t any setting that would bring us blissful days. The yearning to go back is, if we think about it, essentially pretty selfish. We dream of going back to something that was good for ME. Not wanting to think about what it might mean for anyone else. There is plenty of evil that would be part of any moment we went back to.
And our yearning is pointless anyway, because (hope this isn’t a spoiler) we can’t go back! There is no rewind button. Far better is that we look forward. Bad things in the past, bad things in the present, are ultimately going to be swallowed up in the victory of righteousness and life over evil and death. Reread 1 Corinthians 15, please do. If we’re going to yearn for something, let it be the future Paul describes!
There is nothing we can do to change the moment we’ve arrived at. But there is something we can do with the moment. We can curse it, but how much better to use it for a loving act, a kind word, finding something to rejoice in and sharing it. As long as there is life, there is hope and in that there is cause for joy. Think there would be nothing to be joyful about in prison on false charges? Listen to Paul: “I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble.” (Philippians 4:10-14) He found something to rejoice about, and as for the painful reality of the moment, he found he was able to be content.
So, let’s leave off yearning to go back. There’s no rewind button, but interestingly, there might be a fast forward! All the way into the Kingdom, which is something truly to be yearned for. “Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” (2 Peter 3:11-13) Don’t be put off by the figurative language. What Peter is saying is, “All this stuff, everything that comes from this world, is going to be burned away. It will be replaced by a whole new order—a righteous order. So, what kind of people should we be? Not the kind that will go up in smoke! Rather, the kind who are yearning for the righteous…and maybe, just maybe speeding up its arrival!” How? Just how earnestly are we praying, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth”? Does God hear prayer? Does He respond? Didn’t Jesus teach us to pray for this?
There’s no going back, that’s just a fact. So no wistful nostalgia please, and certainly no whining. Yes, there is bad stuff in the world—bad people, bad circumstances. Yet we remain people of the Kingdom, of the joy set before us. Of being content in whatever situation, who can do anything through him who strengthens us.
Love, looking ahead, Paul
If you have any feedback, please contact me at: paul.zilmer@gmail.com