The Force Behind Civilization 

Looking at history in its broad context there are three themes that seem to emerge and merge from its length and breadth.  First, you have the development of Greek thought.  Second, there is the galvanizing of organization with its planning and administration in the Roman Empire.  Third, the urge to discover, invent and explore pushing European expansion around the world.  Put these three together and we have birth of Western civilization.  Obviously, there were other civilizations in the rest of the world but the connection of these three elements in the physical geography with the natural resources that could be used to express the merger are what make the developed world what it is. 

Look at these three things again.  Thought, structure and their force to make something new, are shadows of the nature of God moving among people to reflect His Genesis call to reproduce and subdue the earth.  Most clear is the work of God having made man in His image and likeness and how those three themes embody the influence of the Father’s mind, the Son’s putting flesh on thought and the Holy Spirit being the urge to move man’s thought and structure together.  The Holy Spirit is the entrepreneurial push to make the mind and the heart productive.  Jesus is the picture of God’s purpose; His mind, heart and Spirit at work and Western Civilization is the humanized structure visibly portraying that truth. 

Now get this, every piece of Western Civilization’s emergence was accomplished by individual effort.  Whether it was the oarsman in an old Viking boat, a salesman bringing wares in the boat, the business acumen of those who built fleets of ships, the clergyman preaching the good news of a companion Lord, name what you will, they were compelled to leave for a new land, a new opportunity, a new life. 

And it was not just the trip.  It was the invention that followed, the development of natural resources available.  We, in America, are the inheritors.  It was the need driven circumstance in individuals that contributed to all we know as America, the heart of Western Civilization.  America is a God-inspired reality and every individual needs to be aware of this truth.  Survey the history books, the records of the past and you will find the spiritual reality behind wave of those individuals and their drivenness.  It’s all very biblical. 

Obviously, there is the sin and evil dimension attempting to offset its progress.  There were always unbelievers and exploiters along the way.  Their choices were influenced by the evil one. War, poverty, injustice and crime vividly carried on by dictatorships and individual greed are the negative spiritual forces.  

Now consider this.  History is not an impersonal thing into which we plug our individuality.  History is ‘His’ story and our personal story.  From a loving God moving His people and the story of every individual who has believed in Him and influenced other to develop.  He, in His Son Jesus, has exposed true morality and it happens in the decision making of every individual.  He is the key to understanding morality.  Every individual person needs an external source of reference to think, trust and do good in every next moment.  Civilization is built on individual personal morality.   So, the key factor is the faith to step into the unknown future of any moment by faith.  This is true of the truck driver, the executive, the maid, the secretary, the lawyer, the doctor, the pastor, farmer, electrician, plumber, the whole spectrum.  As new people are born each one needs to know the real source of all we have and that blessing needs to be spread to others .  Each of is creative and how we let the message leave our hearts to others can be done only by each as we in faith respond to the moment.  That’s our daily focus.

 

We walk into a world of broken beliefs and pain.  When we encounter another person, what is their structure of belief?  Does that structure of belief lead to making a good as opposed to bad decision?  Good and evil are not large tanks of liquid waiting to be tapped.  Good and evil emerge in the midst of every individual making decisions right where they are.  Sin, its self-centeredness, self-rationalization and self-justification, are always present in the decisions individuals make.  If they are conscious of that fact then they will reach out to the personal source of goodness they know is greater than them.  This is why a disciple of Jesus depends on a relationship with Him and His Word in every next moment.  What Jesus has shown is that ultimately, there is no good or evil in and of themselves.  There is only One personal Holy God who is good and that there is also a persona of evil, the devil, hiding in the background to tempt the individual to make personal decisions apart from God. 

 

The bottom line in this world is every single person’s decisions right where they are.  The world is not the result of mysterious non-personal forces but everyday people making choices on how they meet every next moment.  Because decision making is an invisible process taking place in the mind, heart and spirit of each person, it the fact of spirituality that is their reality. Every thought and action is based on how we see ourselves as spiritual beings.  Our physical being is designed to be the spiritual processor of all our experience.  So, what we believe about how to live, what we depend on for a moral base, is a spiritual processing.  Thus, the question is, who and what do we trust in the invisible spiritual dimension we live in every next moment?  This is why we believe in the risen Jesus, the resurrected Son of God Jesus who guides us with His Holy Spirit, the perfect Spirit always available.  When we read the Word of God we are in His mind and the Holy Spirit makes Him personal in each of us.  And it is our blessing to be personal for others, those we run into where we are.  Each of is making history every day, His story becoming our story that others may have their story.

 

 

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