“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things
are become new” (I Corinthians 5:17).
Consider how quickly change can occur in our world today. John Templeton, who was president of the
trustees of Princeton Theological Seminary commented. “Do you realize how much change you and I have seen
just in our lifetime?” Go back just 110 years ago:
In 1912, Americans had no income tax.
No investment counselors ... no mutual funds.
No vitamin tablets ... no refrigerators.
No radios ... no long-distance telephones ... no traffic lights.
No plastics ... no man-made fibers ... and no fluorescent lights.
After the 1929 boom, Americans still had no Social Security ... no unemployment insurance.
No airmail ... no airlines.
No Xerox (copy machines) ... no air conditioning.
No antibiotics ... no frozen foods.
No television ... no transistors.
No lasers ... and no nuclear energy.
Who could have imagined back then the variety of new blessings in my lifetime, and who can imagine
now the even greater new blessings in store for our children and our grandchildren?” My father was born in
1914 … riding in a horse-drawn buggy was still a very popular and much used mode of transportation. So
swiftly man went from riding on a horse and saddle to riding in a rocket to the moon. Long before Dad passed
Neil Armstrong had taken that “One small step for man, and one giant step for mankind.” No longer does one
have to look for a hitching post; he looks for a parking space and a parking meter.
We live in a world and a time of spiraling progress. We are better educated, better fed, and better housed
than at any other time in the history of the world. One might say, “Just look at how far we’ve come!” Really? In
the early years of the previous century we didn’t have to lock our doors at night. Today, we have to keep an eye
out for ‘porch pirates’ who boldly will steal packages from the front door of your home with you in it!
Since 1912 we have seen the discovery of medicine to combat diphtheria and tetanus; isolated the
hormone insulin; discovered penicillin; developed a vaccine for yellow fever; developed the heart-lung
machine; discovered streptomycin; developed the first effective polio vaccine; performed the first successful
heart transplant; implanted the first permanent artificial heart; and developed laser surgery. More than half of
the scientists who ever lived are alive today. More than half of the discoveries in the natural sciences have been
made in this century.
And yet … the plague of sin is still with us today … despite the fact we have the only remedy possible
for ridding man of this dread disease. Though every person born into this world has the strain of sin inbred from
all previous generations, it is possible to receive individual cleansing just by asking for it!
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness” (I John 1:9). How refreshing to hear it said, “I used to be a sinner, but now I’m forgiven!”
Francis Mason
Pastor Mason