The West is dying. Long live the West.
The West is dying. Long live the West.
The world has been falling apart since Eden. It’s part of the plan. Destruction is necessary to the work of restoration. And restoration is a multi-generational project.
The Western world is falling apart. It’s OK to be distressed about this, but it’s not right to be anxious.
Adam put his wife over his God; their world fell apart.
Cain killed his brother; their world fell apart.
Men gave their daughters as wives to angels (or men after Cain’s heart, if you believe Michael’s version); that world fell apart. It fell apart so badly that God took it all the way back to uncreation. But Noah found favor in his eyes.
Then Noah got drunk and his son did something nasty and their world fell apart.
The men of Babel tried to build the highest high place and make a name for themselves instead of for God; their world fell apart by tongue.
Then there were nations, and they all fell apart. Babylon fell apart, Persia fell apart, Greece fell apart, Rome fell apart. Israel fell apart after just one good king.
Then the Lord Jesus came in the midst of the rubble, and his ministry fell apart when he was executed by the forces of all this death and chaos. And for a weekend, the world was the worst it could ever be.
And then, for the first time ever, God overturned a death sentence. For the first time ever, a man took up his own life on his own authority because of his own righteousness, and walked out of the tomb. Death ran backwards.
But death didn’t stop running backwards when Jesus folded up his burial cloth. It has been running backwards ever since—because he is the resurrection and the life, and all dominion, over every man, tribe, county, district, nation, alliance, and continent has been given to him.
And so our reliance is not on the disintegrating world, where all things fall apart. It is on the reintegrating Word, in whom all things rise together. There is only one eternal nation, and one royal priesthood, because there is only one divine King.
Whether in one year or a million, the West will die. But Jesus rules the West, and Jesus opens tombs from the inside. The seed goes into the ground in order to spring back out again as something better. So be about the work of producing godly seed.
Being overtly Christian is a virtuous cycle. The more people do it, the more people do it. And the more people do it, the fewer people don’t. Since society is made up of people…well, you get the idea. If we want the world to be less secular, we need to stop living in it that way.
Submission requires a mission.
This is why submission begins with agreement, not disagreement.
Two or more parties must agree to (vow) enter into a shared mission (the defined purpose for which the vows were made).
The quality of the relationship is tested by disagreement. Is the “superior” and/or “inferior” acting in line with the agreed upon mission?
The rebel(s) is the one not keeping their vow. They are the one who has abandoned the previous stated purpose of their relationship and/or their particular role in fulfilling it.
Not all mission/vow deviations are equal. Always go out of your way to keep your vows, and to correct deviations…even if you aren’t the source of the deviation.
Btw, every major to medium decision we make, we run past our wives.
Is this because we need their approval to make a decision?
Not at all.
It’s because we desire their wisdom and feminine insight.
They are our helpmates on our mission, and we find them to be very helpful.
Thank God for godly wives!
The sin which in English is commonly called Sloth, and in Latin accidia (or more correctly acedia), is insidious, and assumes such Protean shapes that it is rather difficult to define. It is not merely idleness of mind and laziness of body: it is that whole poisoning of the will which, beginning with indifference and an attitude of “I couldn’t care less,” extends to the deliberate refusal of joy and culminates in morbid introspection and despair. One form of it which appeals very strongly to some modern minds is that acquiescence in evil and error which readily disguises itself as “Tolerance”; another is that refusal to be moved by the contemplation of the good and beautiful which is known as “Disillusionment,” and sometimes as “knowledge of the world”; yet another is that withdrawal into an “ivory tower” of Isolation which is the peculiar temptation of the artist and the contemplative, and is popularly called “Escapism.” (Dorothy L. Sayers)
Little did Sayers suspect that with the advance of technology, we would master applying all three of these vices to everyone!
Woe to the nation when this latter purpose prevails among the mass victims of lawful plunder when they, in turn, seize the power to make laws!
…
Until that happens, the few practice lawful plunder upon the many, a common practice where the right to participate in the making of law is limited to a few persons. But then, participation in the making of law becomes universal. And then, men seek to balance their conflicting interests by universal plunder. Instead of rooting out the injustices found in society, they make these injustices general. As soon as the plundered classes gain political power, they establish a system of reprisals against other classes. They do not abolish legal plunder. (This objective would demand more enlightenment than they possess.) Instead, they emulate their evil predecessors by participating in this legal plunder, even though it is against their own interests.
…
t is as if it were necessary, before a reign of justice appears, for everyone to suffer a cruel retribution – some for their evilness, and some for their lack of understanding. (Frederick Bastiat, The Law)
If you haven’t listened to Eric Conn’s Hard Man Podcast, you’re missing out: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1068361
Talk again next week,
Bnonn & Michael
Btw, if you’re in Sydney, Australia, there’s a group of young men who have started up a group to hang out, chop wood, have BBQs, and do discipleship together. Check out their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/322112875514008/