Becoming a Secure Christian
PART 3 : Personal Security (Theory & Practice)
Chapter 18: Secure in Ongoing Change
“Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath” (Heb 6:17)
In the previous chapter we considered our eternal destiny, yet before we fully enter into that we have yet time to live out on this earth. In this final chapter I want us to consider again the question of the changing world in which we find ourselves, a world which so often seems so insecure, a world that seems to force itself and its values upon us. Can we, as Christians, be secure in this constantly changing world? There are various matters we need to consider before we complete this book.
“Change is here to stay”, some wit said many years ago in what was to become one of the most repeated comments of its time. Yet it is true and still many of us find a deep worry when change takes place, and it is constantly taking place, which means that many of us are constantly worrying! It seems right, therefore, to finish this book on becoming a secure Christian by considering some aspects of change and how we may remain secure in the face of them.
18.1 Coping with a Changing World
The Fact of Change
In 1970 Alvin Toffler wrote Future Shock expounding his theory, postulated five years earlier, about “the shattering stress and disorientation that we induce in individuals by subjecting them to too much change in too short a time.” In other words future shock is our inability to cope with tomorrow arriving today!
In the late 1990s Patrick Dixon wrote Future Wise with the opening words, “Either we take hold of the future or the future will take hold of us.” In other words, if we don’t take control of what is happening, the speed of change will overwhelm us and leave us behind.
These two men pointed out the incredible changes that have taken place in our society in the past century, more than in the whole of previous human history put together, and then the changes that are taking place and will take place in the immediate future. Never before, they maintain, has mankind been put under such stress in having to cope with change.
A Decaying Society
Those of us who have witnessed the last fifty years, have witnessed a moral downward spiral in the West, a moral downward spiral that has had practical effects at every level of society. In an earlier chapter I did paint a general picture of this under the heading, “An Insecure World” and so I won’t repeat that here. The ensuing problems of our society are enormous. The health services and social services are under siege and cannot cope with the deluge of health and social problems we find in our society.
Why is this? I would suggest the principle behind this is found in Paul’s letter to the Romans where he declared, after having said how mankind turns away from God, “Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts”. When mankind pushes God away, God simply steps back and removes His hand of restraint to allow the ‘natural’ consequences of a sinful world to follow. In the latter half of the twentieth century we have watched the ‘natural’ consequences of an unrestrained sinful world unfold.
Thus we now consider acceptable, behaviour and practices that fifty years ago would not even have been spoken about – and we have all the negative effects that go with them, and foolishly wonder why. I often think that a characteristic of ‘Sin’ is ‘stupidity’, for in no other way can you understand the stupidity of decisions made by government and society in this period of time – and the church has largely remained silent.
Changes in the Christian World
Over this period of time we have observed a number of changes in the Christian world:
- In the sixties and seventies the charismatic renewal movement came into being.
- In the seventies in some parts was the flowering of the faith movement.
- In the eighties came the prophetic movement.
- In the nineties came to so-called ‘Toronto Blessing’, the Alpha movement and the birthing of Christian TV in the U.K.
- In the new century came struggles to cope with post-modernism and reaching out to transform communities.
Yet despite all these bursts of life in the Christian church, the moral standards of the Western world have continued to fall and it would appear that the church has failed to be salt and light to the surrounding society. In the U.K. traditional denominations have continued to decline with only the new streams and occasional denominational church seeing growth.
The Effect of Change on Christians
The effect of this on the Christian community, I would suggest, is varied and the following are some of the feelings generated in many:
i) Life is out of control (That God is out of control?)
Such big forces are at work that we now no longer have any say in life, in society, in our world.
The result for many is that they have withdrawn from the arena and left the high ground to the pluralistic, materialistic and humanistic thinkers and communicators of the day.
ii) A sense of chaos and confusion.
In the work place, flexible working has meant that many Christians are now required to work hours that do not allow them to be around on Sundays or at midweek meeting times. For many this has meant an undermining of their faith which was built more on meetings than on God.
iii) A sense of being marginalised and impotent.
As Christianity has ceased to be the main religious plank in the nation’s life, Christians increasingly feel they are just one player in a market place of religion
iv) A sense of disillusionment that stems from:
a) Church disappointment
- failure of long hoped for revival to occur
- the coming and going of a number of ‘revival manifestations’ apparently without long term effect
- failure of much organisational evangelism to produce large scale and lasting fruit
b) Church impotence to stem the tide of
- moral decline in the nation
- social disintegration
- occult growth of dynamic proportions
- other religions’ growth and acceptance in the West
- crusading atheists being given the high ground by the media.
v) Hope is maintained by some
- in the relatively few large flourishing churches
- in organisational ‘project’ evangelicalism
- in large Christian conventions,
yet still as the Church we fail to have national impact.
Where is God?
For many, in their disillusionment, the heart cry is:
“Where is God? Why hasn’t He come with revival? Why, when there have been such waves of prayer for revival, or prophetic outpourings declaring ‘It is coming’, hasn’t it happened? Why, despite our praying and all our efforts, have we made so little impact in our nation?”
The tendency for many has been to give up. For some it has been to abandon church. For others it has been to try new forms of church. In what follows may I suggest three scriptural pictures that may be relevant to our position today?
Becoming a Secure Christian 