The world is crazy right now. Right?
But is that so unusual? If you could look into the minds of nearly each generation, you’d likely find that they thought they were living in “crazy times.”
How can you know if the times you are living in are truly the craziest?
What is the reference point?
My grandparents lived through WWII and its atrocities. My parents had Vietnam, hippies, free love, and many other perversions of traditional values. Eventually, though, those hippies turned into the Jesus Movement. A revival that changed the course of a nation and the lives of millions of people. The years between the two world wars saw a great revival of the church, too.
My personal relationship with Christ is directly related to the Jesus Movement.
Christian rock and my lifelong desire to be part of it, is directly connected to it.
Does each generation have to hit rock bottom to determine that there’s more to life than the pains and pleasures of this world?
When you look below the surface of our global politics and obvious cultural decay, you can see we are really in trouble. Our leaders are untrustworthy. Influential, wealthy persons who have no fear of God in them are poised to determine our collective futures. It’s truly frightening.
It feels now like we’re at a fork in the road. Which way will society turn? Will we turn our hope to science, politicians, and technology or will we turn to that still, small, voice that tells us there’s more to this life than the material world and our own human pride and hubris?
This is what I think my song Take What You Want is really about.
The first two verses, touched with an attitude of sarcasm, are weary of the modern world,
Take what you want,
the singer blithely demands,
no one’s looking.
And in verse 2,
Say what you want, no one’s listening.
It’s the spitefulness or resentment of someone who’s nearly given up hope on things changing for the better. Ultimately, you have to realize that the world and a life lived unto it will eventually implode. We cannot save ourselves.
I hear a little voice, I think you hear it, too.
The Holy Spirit is speaking into the world – into our hearts, and we must listen and surrender in order for the world to change. Just like those hippies did.
Maybe this is our generation’s rock bottom. Maybe we’re on the verge of another great spiritual awakening – a true revival. God, let it be so.
by Will Keizer