“These are times that try men’s souls.” Famous words from Thomas Paine that described the wrenching days of our fight for independence from Great Britain. We all have personal trials and times when our soul is troubled and vexed. Those are the times we search our souls and seek God for His perfect will and if we are honest, His grace allows us to find Him and surrender to Him.
The believers of Western Christianity are going through such a time now, or at least should be. Down through the ages of Church history, trials and temptations have arisen from the culture that pressure believers to conform and compromise. Our day is no different in that respect; though the temptations are certainly different, the temptations from our particular culture are present. There is a difference, though; the character and message of much of Christianity has changed.
In the past there has always been a strong voice from the pulpits of our land that believers were to be different, that they were to be in but not a part of this self-worshipping world. Believers were told the Bible taught them to be separate, to come out from among the world in thinking, attitude, and deed.
The oldest deception known to man is thinking that everything revolves around us. The complex layers of human self-awareness and self-destruction we deal with today have all arisen from believing a lie about God and acting on our own self-interests in violation of His will. (Genesis 3 has the whole story.)
Today it seems that much of the church has joined the parade of those who worship self. Many believers have accepted a modern theology that is a hodgepodge of psychology and self-expression that has at it roots the idea that God does what He does for us because of us. The ancient Biblical concept that God is autonomous and independent, that He acts from His own will and motive, that He needs nothing or no one, and that anything good we receive from His hand is due to His grace alone has been replaced with a gospel that teaches us that God is there for us. The pulpits, airwaves, bandwidth and bookstores are filled with messages on how to have a better life, feel better about yourself, gain financial peace, make your spouse and children love you, and the list goes on.
The idea that God loves us should be source of wonder and amazement that makes us humble and selfless. The great trial of these days may be the temptation to worship self.