A Fresh Perspective

By T. Scott Burgess

Canastota – In preparing to preach at our church in the near future, I have been thinking of Madonna’s song “Material Girl” quite a bit over the past week. Although I am most certainly not a “Material Girl,” I keep thinking of the refrain: “’Cause we are living in a material world, and I am a Material Girl.” If I could change the lyrics, I would update them to say, “’Cause we are living in a Google world, and I am a Google Guy.”

In the Sixties, The Byrds recorded the anti-war anthem “Turn! Turn! Turn!” Composed by Pete Seeger and inspired by Scripture, the song began with the line, “To everything (turn, turn, turn) there is a season (turn, turn, turn), and a time to every purpose under Heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). We used to be a Guttenberg world where everything worthwhile was recorded in print, and we had to go to the library or to school to research information and learn new things; since the worldwide web has exploded, information acquisition will never be the same.

After the “turn, turn, turn” of events with the Internet, we shifted from being a Guttenberg world to being a Google world. Most Westerners under the age of twenty have never even lived in a Guttenberg world; those in their mid-thirties to early twenties remember a Guttenberg world but changed with the times and transitioned into a Google world with minimal difficulty. Then there are those in their late thirties and beyond; some of these people seem to be stuck in the Guttenberg world, which can cause them to miss out on much of what the world around them offers today.

So what does this all have to do with the spiritual world and those of us who make up the church, which is the universal Body of Christ? Everything! Many Christians view the material world around us as what needs to change, and God knows I wish it would. But the church and its members need to change as well. I am not implying that our beliefs are archaic or meaningless, or that the Bible is inaccurate or anything less than truth. However, I am saying that we are living in a Google world and being a Guttenberg Guy does not mean much to the world around me.

I went to a conference this past summer, where I heard a message by Dr. Todd Hunter. He said something that struck me and stuck with me: “The biggest problem that the world has with Christianity is the un-Christian way many Christians live their lives.”

Now I frequently ask myself, “How do I show the love, grace, power, and majesty of the Lord to the world around me? Do my words and actions mean anything to those who do not know Jesus? Do those in the world around me see who God is when they see my life?”

This column is called “A Fresh Perspective” because I ultimately believe we all need a fresh perspective to look at ourselves and our world differently. We need to see things not as they appear to be, how we feel they are, or even what makes us most comfortable but, instead, from God’s perspective, which is always fresher than our human perspective. Although the Google world is here for now, it too will pass; I hope that we can adjust with the changes that will inevitably come and go, finding meaningful and fresh ways to more fully understand who Christ is and desires to be in our lives to the world around us.

T. Scott Burgess is Youth and Young Adult Leader at Hope Christian Fellowship in Canastota

2 Comments on "A Fresh Perspective"

Doug Brushell on Fri, 13th Nov 2009 3:53 pm

Go Scott, Go!

LTC Daniel Marvin, US Army Special Forces (Ret'd) on Sat, 14th Nov 2009 7:39 am

Perhaps we should all consider the difference in this United States since we took the Bible out of schools, took the Ten Commandments off walls and other places whiich added greatly to the filling of prisons, the high divorce rate, and the killing of unborn children.

Shame on us! and … let’s pray and do act more like Christians should and for those who are not Christians.. how good people should.

A Fresh Perspective

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