July 11, 2005

Muddy Water and Mud Pies

Jeremiah 2:11-13

Here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Hebrews 13:14

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Social commentator Neil Postman, in his book Amusing Ourselves to Death, recalls that in 1984, because of George Orwell's novel 1984, many people watched to see how close fact came to fiction. To the relief of many, there were few similarities. Postman notes, however, that he believes another futuristic novel, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, was more accurate in describing the future. Postman draws this conclusion: "Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us."

 

Jonathan Edwards would have agreed with Huxley's fear. He wrote, "We find that people exercise the affections in everything else but religion! When it comes to their worldly interest, they have warm affection and ardent zeal in their hearts. But how insensible and unmoved are most about the great things of another world! How dull their affections! Here their love is cold, their desires [flat], their zeal low. How can they sit and hear of the infinite height, depth, length, and breadth of the love of God in Christ Jesus, of his gift of his infinitely dear Son, and yet be so insensible and regardless?"

 

C. S. Lewis observed, "If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak."

"O Jesus, joy of loving hearts, the fount of life . . . . we drink of you, the fountainhead, our thirst to quench, our souls to fill." Fill us with desire for you, O Lord. Amen.

About the author — Charles Geschiere

Rev. Charles Geschiere has been a pastor in the Christian Reformed Church for over 30 years. During that time, he has served churches in Illinois, Virginia, and Michigan. Currently, he is ministering to Vienna Presbyterian Church, where he has served since 2012.

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