Obsolete?

My computer is old enough that its operating system can no longer be updated.  Technically, it's obsolete.  Yet here I am on email, typing this message, which I will be able to send to you, then post to different web sites.  True, I may not be able to access the latest app, but I can't say that is somehow having a negative impact on my overall quality of life.  So just how obsolete is obsolete?

Our culture tells us we need the newest, fastest, shiniest whatever it is that's out there.  But our experience tells us otherwise.  We can often more than get by, indeed, we can often be quite happy with what we currently have.  So why are susceptible to blandishments of marketers and others who tell us we need to trade up?  Part of it, I believe, is fear.  Fear of not having every resource, every advantage possible at our disposal as we make our way in a confusing, at times menacing world.  Fear that we are somehow not prepared for the dark roads we will at some point travel in our lives.

The Christian faith offers a different perspective.  Our hope, our salvation, comes in a very old promise, one that was fulfilled on Calvary some 2,000 years ago.  The commitment to us made on and in the cross by God in Jesus is the antithesis of obsolete: it is vital, it is living, it is essential.

So, the next time we are feeling the siren call of the new and glitzy, let us pray the Spirit will guide us, give us sense and perspective, so that we may focus on what is truly meaningful, valuable, and life-affirming.

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