Can't Stop the Clock

How will you feel at 11:59 p.m. on Friday, December 31, 1999? How will you feel when, like scissor blades, the hands of the clock prepare to snip off the end of another decade, another century, another millennium?

Some face the year 2000 with relaxed curiosity, like a person who watches with mild fascination as his car hits the 100,000-mile mark and all the numbers change to zeroes. Others are greatly alarmed and terrified of cataclysmic events, like a person driving toward a mountain cliff knowing his car has faulty brakes. Somewhere in the middle, still others are pretty sure the car will make it through the turns, but they'd feel better if they knew exactly where the road is headed.

There are legitimate reasons for concern, and not just because of doomsday prophecies or predicted computer glitches. Thoughtful Christians wonder: In the future, how will we preach the gospel to people who see Christianity as merely another selection in a cafeteria of religious options? How can we communicate effectively with audiences increasingly accustomed to short soundbites?

How will we respond to the moral desensitization of a culture grown cynical from daily exposure to violence, profanity, and sexual deviance on TV? If a few misguided children fire guns at their schoolmates today, what will our kids have to deal with in 2010? How will we teach biblical truth to a generation fascinated by angels and longing for experiential spirituality but bored by doctrinal instruction? John Naisbitt, author of Megatrends, noted that from Voltaire to Marx, many people thought faith would disappear during the twentieth century, but instead there's been a revival of sorts that "values the emotional and the nonrational." What will this mean for our churches?

How will we present Jesus' call to self-denial and cross-bearing in a prosperous culture that routinely dismisses calls to commitment with a "been there, done that" shrug? We've discovered what's on the other side of the ocean and what's on the moon; what new frontiers will stir the imagination of our young people? We've watched mainline denominations decline and non-denominations divide; what will draw our churches into united, effective ministry to a world still floundering in despair?

We've called our current decade the Nineties. Will it be depressing to live in a decade called the Zeroes? Is that where we're headed—toward zero morality, zero respect, zero hope? Or will the church finally get our act together and meet the challenges of a new millennium?

Yes, there's cause for concern. But Christians also have legitimate reasons to remain calm, steadfast, and hopeful as we approach the new millennium. I don't know what I'll be doing on December 31, 1999. But I know God will still be God. He will still be our sovereign Lord, the giver and sustainer of life, the source of our strength and hope. I don't know when Jesus will return, but I know he's coming because he promised it, and until he comes again, we need to do his work with faithful enthusiasm.

Paul told Timothy, "Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called . . . Keep this commandment without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time" (1 Timothy 6:12-15).

We can't stop the clock, but God can—and someday he will. Until then, we don't need to count the hours; we need to make the hours count.