The good old days

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10).

I enjoy entertainment from the past.  I watch old TV shows and movies.  I read books that reprint newspaper strips from the 30s and 40s.  There is something neat about seeing the world as others saw it decades ago.  The fashions they wore and the places where they lived.  The music that was popular and the way people spoke.  The cars that they drove and the places they went to have a good time.  Every now and then, I kind of wish that I could have lived in some of those past times, some of those different places.

But a romantic view of the past is just that—hopelessly romantic.  For all that we might wish to turn back the clock, life wasn’t any better in the past.  During the 1930s many people lived on next to nothing, thanks to the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression.  The 40s saw fascism take over much of Europe, and ended with far too many families grieving the loss of soldiers who died overseas.  During the 1950s children learned to fear nuclear war.  The 1960s drove a wedge of distrust between adolescents and adults.  The 70s taught us how foolish it is to trust government officials.  The 80s started us on the trend of finding happiness through spending money that should be saved for the future or donated to charity. And ever since the 90s, the pace of life has gotten so hectic that family members are becoming strangers to each other. 

Life in past decades was not significantly better than today.  Kids were bullied at school.  There was discrimination against people based on skin color, religion, and cultural identity.  Prisons were full of convicts, and even more roamed the streets at night.  People died from untreatable health conditions or from being wounded on the battlefield.  Corrupt politicians dictated governmental policy.  People lived without faith in Christ, and ended up in hell when they died.

Life today can be challenging and scary; it’s easy to let nostalgia wrap you in its arms and complain bitterly about how times have changed.  But trying to live in the past is a waste of the time that God has given you.  Jesus died so that we might have life, and have it to the full—each new day is a gift to be enjoyed. You are alive now because there are people who need love—love that Christ wants to send them through you.  Please, embrace every opportunity the Lord provides to gladden another life with your own.