Coping with the Climate

For me ideal weather is warm days with coolness and soft rainfall at night. Even if it gets hot during the day, if it is cool at night the heat does not bother me. But heat really gets to me if it is unrelenting. Heat all day and all night wears me down.

We live in a spiritual climate that seeks to wear us down. Good is called evil; and evil is called good (cf. Isa 5:20). The world demands that we not only tolerate wrongdoing, now it is demanded that we rejoice and celebrate some of the most sickening and perverse of evil deeds. Those who watch television tell me that every show and every news broadcast is designed to get us to accept evil as normal, and to reject righteous living as impractical.

This climate is wearing us down. I am beginning to hear church members downplay, if not openly deny, the fundamentals of Christian morality. We may intend to cling to the truth - but if we constantly listen to error - sooner or later we will be worn down and will embrace falsehood.

Air conditioning allows most of us to escape from the heat for at least a few hours of the day or night. That enables us to be productive, even in the “dog days” of summer. But how are we to cope with the spiritual climate? All day long the truth is called false, and falsehood is exalted as admirable. How are we to cope with that?

We must arrange our days to allow a bit of spiritual refreshment each day. We must arrange our weeks to allow a day (not an hour, but a day) of spiritual refreshment each week. We must arrange our lives to allow a longer period (a week or even two) of spiritual refreshment each year.

With regard to daily refreshment, we have (or should have) Bibles and hymnals in our homes. We might also have some good devotional reading material, some recorded hymns, and other aids to spiritual refreshment. We ought to use these at least once per day. With regard to a weekly day of spiritual refreshment, the Lord has indicated the day and the church has provided the means by appointing an hour of classes and two hours of worship on that day. With regard to yearly refreshment, there are several Christian camps, retreats and lectureships available; or one could arrange to stay in a house at the end of a dirt road (with no radio or television) to pray and read uplifting literature for a week.

Whatever the exact details, we must have a plan for spiritual renewal. Satan undoubtedly has a plan for our spiritual destruction. If we do not take action to counteract him, he will defeat us.