Pioneer Christian Monthly - January, 1991

Tender Tips
Scott Molebean

The title is an expression which dates from the colonial times. The white rulers did not communicate very well with the natives. Through the beating of the drums and other signs, it was noticed that there was apparently great activity in the other world. Inquiries were made of those in contact with the native population. Answer: "The natives are restless, my lord." Nothing in particular bothers them. And yet something is, but they do not know what.

It is a mood which seems to be contagious. In our home we have had a lot of experience with the same phenomenon. When we would be expecting company in the evening, or if my wife and I would both be going to meetings, the children would refuse to settle down - especially the baby. When the family would go away for the day, the dog would -know it hours before departure time and get most miserably in the way. The preparation for whatever was before us clearly caused restlessness among "the natives" in our home.

Today it appears that the same state of uneasiness prevails all through society. Ontario voters turfed out David Petersen and elected their first NDP government. Many people did not intend to go quite that far, but they were cranky with the Liberals and still not ready to vote Conservative. They were pushing for a strong NDP opposition. Now many wonder how they are going to survive a government they really did not want. Meanwhile the various action groups keep pushing their narrow perspectives. k d lang is anti-meat. Others are anti-fur. Then there are the anti-nuke people, and the anti-loggers. They fit in well with a revamped southern Ontario daily newspaper which now has become so oversimplified that the broader aspects of the issues are absent.

Here we come face to face with one of the real problems in today's society - the demand that everything be seen in black and white terms and be solved in the same manner. Tunnel vision is rampant these days. As children we used to practice walking with tunnel vision. We did that by taking two empty paper cylinders from toilet rolls and looking through them while we walked. If you held them perfectly horizontal you could not see what was in front of your feet. If however, you directed them to the spot immediately before your feet you could not see left, right, or ahead. It only took a few minutes before you fell over something. The effects will be the same in the not too distant future when these narrow objectives will cause the country to stumble along, if nothing worse, with many people getting hurt, including those who are forcing these narrow objectives upon us.

The natives are not the only ones politically restless. Tunnel vision is not only found in social action programs. The same conditions are showing up among church people. Groups are found in various denominations that are pushing narrow objectives. Dissatisfaction with leadership happens more and more both on the local and on the denominational level. Solutions are to be found, quickly. Pastors have to be removed, quickly. Otherwise, it is said, the church may just fold. So much for God's Word which says, "Do not have anxiety about anything but let your requests be made known to God in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving." For then "the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6,7). That peace will enable us to reflect on some words from Guido De Bres and those around him who were daily in danger of being burned alive because of their faith:

This Church has been from the beginning of the world and will be to its end; which is evident from the fact that Christ is an eternal King, which without subjects He cannot be. And this holy Church is kept or maintained by God against the rage of the whole world, although occasionally, in the eyes of men, it appears at times to be very small and to be reduced to almost nothing; even as during the perilous reign of Ahab, when nevertheless the Lord left seven thousand, all the knees that had not bowed to Baal (Belgic Confession Article 27).

Those in danger in the days of the Reformation knew that they did not need to worry about the Church. God keeps the Bride for His Son. What was asked of them was to remain faithful and to refuse to bend the knee for what was presented as God but was really "Baal." When we look at today's church it is so easy to do it with tunnel vision, seeing only today and the next 2? 5? years. When we hurry after our narrow church objectives we stumble and fall over that which we neglect.

Our little ones and the dog somehow always picked up on something unusual about to happen in the family. The restlessness of society undoubtedly affects the people in the churches also. There is no better cure than to reflect on the fact that the Lord God keeps His church from the beginning of the world until the end. Once we take in that wide sweep of the history of God's people, together with His keeping grace our restlessness will settle down and our tunnel vision with its narrow demands become shattered. Then we are ready to seek once again His will for our lives, not just for 1991.

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