Another Version of "the Good Old Days"

by Aubrey Belue

Some people nearly wear you out describing in detail the virtues of the “good old days”. To call every effort to recall the past foolish is in itself foolish. On the other hand, many completely deceive themselves by continuing in this state of mind to such an extent that the present and the future seem insignificant. Solomon said, Ecclesiastes 7:10 “Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.”

The human mind punishes itself unnecessarily, and to dwell at length on the past and spend endless hours groaning on the advantages of days gone by is perhaps the biggest waste of time ever.

And, the memory of pleasant vs. unpleasant things makes them larger than life. With many, the actuality of the “good old days” is far different from the vision we have looking back, and in either case recall can provide nothing outside the lessons that history should teach us.

What makes the “good old days” so much better now than they were then? Consider that the present will one day be “the good old days”. The same attitude that prompts in man an exaggerated concern for the past will prompt in him that same feeling tomorrow for today, and generally that attitude is simply an unwillingness to face squarely the issues of the present and the future. Since success in life is determined by one’s willingness to really tackle life and struggle with the day by day problems and events, then the one who lives in “the good old days” will never be successful. 

The closest to a perfect situation you will ever get is solving a problem. You might try dwelling upon a “perfect” past, but that accomplishes nothing. There ain’t no such animal! Paul had it right: Philippians 3:13 “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus”.

One thing is true about “the good old days”…when we do remember them, we may well recall many lost liberties, a time when we could choose freely between many options concerning how we use our money, what and who we can get for health care, a time when we could freely express ourselves without fear of “the thought police”, a time when people had a sense of shame, and hesitated to “riot in the daytime” (2 Pet 2:13), when vulgarity and lasciviousness were not forced on people in public places, when a man’s property was his own and he could count on the law to protect it and him, a time when one could expect the freedom to oppose sin and express his worship in his own way. 

Indeed, we will often have to remind ourselves, “all is going according to plan”, because about now it is becoming clear that God’s “plan” is not what we would plan for this country. God will prevail, and any Bible student of Israel and the prophets will have noted the similarity between today’s circumstances and those of Israel and Judah during the prophetic time of Joel and Amos and the years following. God has not changed, nor His way of noting and dealing with perversity. We had better start giving attention to God’s will for His people when “the foundations are destroyed”…Right now, the prophet Jeremiah is a “must read”, and we would do well to learn how the people of God should act in such times.

 

Other Articles by Aubrey Belue
The Exculpatory Rule
It's Not How You Feel
Two Visions of the Church
What Did Jesus Really Say?