It doesn't take a genius to figure out our world is in a bizarre state.  One can hardly imagine how much worse it can be.  We have people with guns that open fire on the innocent.  Now we read of our government looking into our private lives.  This does not begin to count the varied social ills that fill our news cycles.  The question becomes how do healthy people live in an unhealthy world?  We cannot just escape nor isolate our lives from what goes on around us.  This was never the intention of Jesus in His instructions to those who would follow.  Our task is to change our world before that world changes us.

Our recent study of 1 Samuel comes in handy in facing this issue.  That was a day far too similar to ours.  3000 years ago you read how faithful believers would behave when no one seemed to even try.  One writer describes the actions of Elkanah and Hannah as simple but profound.  I like that phrasing of their life.  You do not read of their being obnoxious or arrogant but rather a quiet humility in the face of ugliness.  They will pray, obey, and live life in that bold but simple faith.  Profound is the best word to understand how that contrasts to others around them.

The sons of Eli serve as the opposite to the simple and profound.  One version of scripture calls them scoundrels.  That would be insulting to those who are scoundrels.  Neither son shows any inclination to live up to their calling as spiritual leaders.  It could be because they do not know the Lord.  You can best refer to their conduct as shocking.  But they follow that up by treating others with disdain or contempt.  What else do you call being rude, abusive and self centered in their duties?  We may not see ourselves in the same perspective but one has to wonder about that. 

Our world is just like theirs.  People live today doing whatever seems right in their own eyes.  Such words were true then as they are now.  One of my favorite novelists writes how evil is not creative but just repeats itself.  God is the creative one in our midst.  Sin may find different outlets but it really never changes.  Perhaps we just search for new avenues of bad behavior but it never drifts far from the cause.  Simple yet profound living only grows out of a deeper faith in God.  We live in light of His truth without pride to bring clarity to chaos.  What we find is a simple act of obedience and trust can change our life and those of the people around us.  Blaming others or fixing blame is never the solution to living in such times.  Just be who God desires in His fullness to see Him do wondrous things.  That really seems like a better path to me. 

Bro. Trey