The New It, or the New Me?
I'm rereading The Fifties by the late, great David Halberstam. Navigating the new prosperity in which Americans were awash early in that decade, Halberstam speaks to more than that point in time. He says, evaluating the allure of the next purchase that we tend to associate newness with perfection. He also sees a cultural transition still having an impact in the shift by which younger Americans willing to go into debt their parents avoided did so because they believed the future was now.
How much faith do we implicitly put in that next purchase? How much hope do we invest in the comfort with which it will temporarily surround us? The deification of novelty is itself not new. Paul calls it out in his letter to the poor church at Philippi, in case his listeners are envying prosperity and beginning to believe that they suffer by comparison. The enemies of the cross of Christ, He begins as Philippians 3:18 concludes, are those whose God is their belly and whose glory is their shame, who set their minds, Paul laments and Madison Avenue delights, on earthly things. Before he even began to describe these terminal symptoms, Paul relieved any suspense in the opening of Philippians 3:19. There and is destruction.
The identity of the believer in Christ is altogether different, he consoles, beginning in verse 20. Our citizenship, he says, bridging an identity more comprehensive than city or socioeconomic class, is in Heaven. What's the tell, Paul? What's the accent that gives us away as not quite fitting in with the culture around us? The indicator, Paul as spiritual cardiologist determines, is what we wait for. We, Paul says to Christians across ages and cultural boundaries, eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We, at the core of our renewed being, recognize we need to be saved FROM the lures of this world rather than BY them.
If our eyes don't quite get the message as they are still in the habit of coveting that next new thing that belongs to our neighbor, Paul coaches in Philippians 3:21 that we not despair. Christ Who changes the heart will in His time change the body also. Paul's hope, and that of those to whom he writes is in Christ, "who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able to subdue all things to Himself." As enticing as the ads are, as much as we admit we can tell the difference more quickly in a new purchase than in a new resolve to treasure Christ, He will win. He is faithful to finish what He started in us.
How much faith do we implicitly put in that next purchase? How much hope do we invest in the comfort with which it will temporarily surround us? The deification of novelty is itself not new. Paul calls it out in his letter to the poor church at Philippi, in case his listeners are envying prosperity and beginning to believe that they suffer by comparison. The enemies of the cross of Christ, He begins as Philippians 3:18 concludes, are those whose God is their belly and whose glory is their shame, who set their minds, Paul laments and Madison Avenue delights, on earthly things. Before he even began to describe these terminal symptoms, Paul relieved any suspense in the opening of Philippians 3:19. There and is destruction.
The identity of the believer in Christ is altogether different, he consoles, beginning in verse 20. Our citizenship, he says, bridging an identity more comprehensive than city or socioeconomic class, is in Heaven. What's the tell, Paul? What's the accent that gives us away as not quite fitting in with the culture around us? The indicator, Paul as spiritual cardiologist determines, is what we wait for. We, Paul says to Christians across ages and cultural boundaries, eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We, at the core of our renewed being, recognize we need to be saved FROM the lures of this world rather than BY them.
If our eyes don't quite get the message as they are still in the habit of coveting that next new thing that belongs to our neighbor, Paul coaches in Philippians 3:21 that we not despair. Christ Who changes the heart will in His time change the body also. Paul's hope, and that of those to whom he writes is in Christ, "who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able to subdue all things to Himself." As enticing as the ads are, as much as we admit we can tell the difference more quickly in a new purchase than in a new resolve to treasure Christ, He will win. He is faithful to finish what He started in us.
Comments
Post a Comment