Float

Beloit College issues a list of foundational realities (they call them mindsets) that the incoming freshman class has. As I read them, some are quite interesting, reminding me that life changes. Things I took for granted are now gone and things I never thought of are being taken as normal by people younger than myself. Here are a few of the mindsets of the class of 2013.

 

• They have never used a card catalog to find a book.
• Rap music has always been main stream.
• Babies have always had a Social Security Number.
• They have never had to "shake down" an oral thermometer.
• They have never understood the meaning of R.S.V.P.
• American students have always lived anxiously with high-stakes educational testing.
• McDonald's has always been serving Happy Meals in China.
• Condoms have always been advertised on television.
• Bobby Cox has always managed the Atlanta Braves.
• Women have always outnumbered men in college.
• There has always been a computer in the Oval Office.

Those of us who are older (me included) often cling to past memories and "better days" Some days were better, some were not. We have selective memory. What was great and permanent somewhere started to slip away. Aches, hair loss, a friend's death, divorce, career failures. I am sure you have your own or will some day (you younger ones.)

 

Paul, speaking about marriage, reminds us  

 

What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short…. For this world in its present form is passing away. 1 Corinthians 7:29 & 31 (NIV) 

 

Hebrews says,

 

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8 (NIV)

I cannot depend on the world doing my bidding by defying the Second Law of Thermodynamics. No matter how hard I try, my body, my life and this world are passing away. Nothing spontaneously returns to its original form (although I wish my car would.) I can fight this reality or I can accept it. So many people I love still fight it.

Accepting means to me to float. That is, to lie back as if I were flailing in the water, drowning. Lie back and float. Lie back and float on Christ. Investing in Jesus everything I have because he will prevail.

What part of life do you cherish for all the right reasons but is a bad investment in forever? It is passing away. What, in wishing for it to return, will never come back? It is passing away. What have you depended upon to carry you through that has taken on water and sinking? It is passing away.

Christ is offering you a durable life regardless of the world's or nature's cooperation. It is not passing away.