Round And Round We Go!

Many philosophers and students of human behavior have concluded that most events and things are part of an endlessly repeating circle… this concept has even been given a name… “Eternal Recurrence”, sounds grandiose, and such an idea is certainly fatalistic, expressing the thought that we really do have very little control over our own destiny.

Solomon expressed the idea this way… “That which has been is that which shall be; and that which has been done is that which shall be done; and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it may be said, See, this is new? It has already been in days of old, which were before us.  Ecclesiastes 1:9-10  

 To anyone who has lived for a few decades as an adult there appears to be some truth to the idea. Things do seem to crop up in a small and seemingly trivial fashion and with clockwork regularity, every 20 years or so.

The ‘70s gave us nostalgia for the ‘50s. The movie “Grease” ushered in a fad that continued with the seminal movie “American Graffiti” and who didn’t look back with nostalgia to those “Happy Days.” During the ‘80s, the generation that had never stopped reliving the ‘60s forced the rest of the world to relive them as well, and low and behold, many of the “pop” groups and singers of the rebellious 60’s are undergoing yet another “revival” in this troubled decade of the 'teens.   

During the 90s, that fashion disaster, bell-bottom trousers, improbably returned. KISS, racing back in full demonic makeup, staged an endless string of farewell tours. And by the decade's end, one of the most popular shows on television was “That ‘70s Show.” Simple, straight to the point. 

The 1950s gave birth to UFO mania, as large numbers of people first saw what they believed to be alien spacecraft. Children during those years grew up with little green men on their minds. Eventually, some of those children grew into television and movie producers. 

By the time the ‘70s came around, they had accumulated enough years, money and authority to produce a TV series about the paranormal and the unexplained, “In Search Of,” and films about the Bermuda Triangle, alien encounters, extra-terrestrials phoning home and other oddities. Another generation grew up with that stuff. And when their turn came to helm the ship of popular culture, they sailed right back into the Triangle. Perhaps you have seen that episode of “The X-Files?” or are you still “star-trekking?” 

But some things DO NOT “recycle”, Jesus broke into human consciousness 2000 years with a radical and new concept! God was actually deeply interested in, and concerned for His creation. From the beginning of time, His plan was always this.... 

For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

Never before, (and certainly not since) has such a statement of love been pronounced! Twenty-five words that have sent thrilling sensations through millions of our fellow beings; twenty-five words that have brought countless multitudes to the feet of Christ. Twenty-five words that have kindled in the cold and selfish hearts of mortals the fires of self-sacrificing love for humanity.Twenty-five words that changed my life, made me a better person.

The transparent simplicity of these words is so often overlooked, theologized away, or just simply ignored…. Yet the notion of God dying for you and I is as fresh as tomorrow.