Where There Is No Vision
“Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Prov.29:18). Jesus said that if the blind lead the blind, they will both fall down. But what happens when an entire nation or culture loses their sight?
We may well be living in a post-Christian era here in the West. Many places in this country have no memory of Christian training, dating back two or three generations. Everywhere, Christians are being told to be silent and invisible. History is being revised to omit any mention of the role Christians played in founding many of our universities and hospitals, not to mention the influence of Christian thought on Western civilization. Even worse, it is now fashionable to blame Christianity for the ills of society. Truth and Love are dying; Good is called Evil; and Evil is called Good.
How do we then live? As Christians, how do we grow up in this toxic environment, and how do we offer hope to our world? How we answer these questions matters a great deal, because so much is at stake. At the risk of needing to revise this as I learn, allow me to offer a few thoughts of my own.
First and foremost, we must firmly know we are Children of the King. The part of the realm we find ourselves in may be in shambles, but God is still inviting people to be restored and to join with Him in restoring His Kingdom. Our hope is in God and His work in our lives. Second, those who are entering the Kingdom (and many who have been here a while) are going to need a lot of help to grow up and overcome the lies and malformation brought on by life in this world. Must of this process has been lost in favor of an educational approach to Christianity that focuses head knowledge and tends to ignore the value of experience and life skills. But if we are to survive and thrive in this messed up place, we must restore character formation to the core of our mission, or we will be in no place to offer hope to the world. Third, there are still many people out there who know the system is broken, but they do not know why or what to do. For those who may still have ears to hear, we must speak loudly and clearly that the path to life has been found! The Good News is that Messiah has come and fulfilled His promise to bring life and immortality to light. And all who come to Him in faith can be saved from both themselves and their world.