How Not To Go Crazy – The Sojourners Secret (How to Find Stability in Unstable Times)

By: Dr. Steven C. Riser; ©2008

This brave new world we seem to have created has forced many people to look somewhere other than to the Bible for better sources of stability. Yet many of the alternatives that have been suggested haven’t been much better than the problems.

Text – Hebrews 11: 1-3, 6, 13-16, 12:1-3

Introduction

Have you heard about the great balloon race? A short while after lifting off, one of the balloons developed some difficulty. The navigation map fell out of the gondola, the compass broke, and the sun was high overhead. The balloonist didn’t know where he was or in what direction he was headed. Off in the distance he spotted a man in a field. He managed to navigate the balloon in the direction of the man and yelled down, “Hey mister, can you tell me where I am?” The man of the ground answered, “Sure, you’re in a hot air balloon.” The balloonist yelled back, “You must be a preacher!” Astonished, the man on the ground asked, “How did you know?” “Easy,” the balloonist replied, “What you said was completely accurate but it didn’t help me a darn bit!” Needless to say, I hope this article is an exception.

All of us have a need for security and stability in life. A good illustration of this is found in one of the characters of the Peanuts comic strip. Linus possesses a secu­rity blanket which is very dear to him. In one of the episodes Snoopy, the dog, snatches the security blanket from Linus and flies through the door in cold midwinter with Linus suspended in midair holding onto his blanket for dear life. Out in the snow a battle ensues. At last, Linus wins, clutches his blanket and stands exhausted at the front door. His sister admonishes him, “Are you crazy? It’s cold outside! You could catch pneumonia rolling around in the snow.” Linus replies, “The struggle for security knows no season!” People will do some pretty crazy and strange things in order to meet this need.

One of my favorite radio newscasters is Paul Harvey’s News and Comment, and one of the elements of his broadcast is sharing this week’s bumper sticker. These bumper stickers are humorous and often reflect various subcultures in our society. One of the most memorable bumper stickers said, “Chicken Little was right!” When you think about it, in light of all the negative changes going on within our culture, something deep down inside us says, “Yes, that’s right!” In many ways the sky has fallen in on millions of people in our society.

We’re living in a time of catastrophic cultural change transitioning from a pre­dominantly Christian worldview to a secular-humanistic worldview with the corre­sponding social disintegration that has left many people mentally disoriented and morally confused. Although this shift in values has occurred over several decades, the changes represent an eon of social change. One of the biggest changes is the shift from absolute moral values to relative moral values. The net result of such enormous readjustments is driving many people crazy.

In fact, we have developed our own social shorthand for expressing this instabil­ity. We say things like, “He’s nuts. He’s flipped out. He’s gone bananas, He’s lost his marbles. He’s gone off the deep end. He’s not playing with a full deck. He is living in a world of his own. His elevator doesn’t go to the top floor.”

Two thirds of self professing Christian adults believe that moral truth is relative. One who thinks that morals are relative has seriously lost touch with reality. In previ­ous generations, when someone lost touch with reality, he was taken off quietly to some secluded mental institution. Today, we don’t institutionalize people who have become disoriented; instead we make them rock singers, TV or movie stars or maybe even elect them to public office.

This brave new world we seem to have created has forced many people to look elsewhere for better sources of stability. Yet many of the alternatives that have been suggested haven’t been much better than the problems. For example:

1. Some have suggested: instead of “keeping the lid on the id” we should just “let it all hang out.” However, that type of thoughtless, unloving honesty is just an unzipped mentality that produces its own frenzied and frayed loose ends.
2. ome have suggested more concrete solutions such as financial security found in accumulating things – Shop-therapy: When you don’t feel good about yourself, just go out and spend more money on yourself. Centuries ago, Jesus Himself said, “Life does not consist in the abundance of things that you possess.”
3. A quick trip to the psychiatrist hasn’t filled the bill for millions of people either. Patients may end up with scientific labels for their problems but they are often just confused. Pills are not panaceas for all our modern day stresses.

In the field of psychiatry we have terms used to refer to the mental disoriented. Do you know the difference between a neurotic and a psychotic? Neurotics see castles in the air; psychotics live in them, and the psychiatrist collects the rent.

No matter what solutions people seek, the sky still seems to keep falling. Where can we find stability in unstable times? Let’s look into God’s Word – the Blue Print of reality and see if we can discover some insights from the wise men of old that will help put the sky back into place and keep it there.

I. Do We All Live by Faith?

Paul said in Romans that “the just shall live by faith.” And that’s true. But in a broader sense everyone lives by faith in someone or something. The question we need to ask is: Is my faith effective or deflective? Is my faith valid or invalid? Are my faith assumptions true and do they work for me? Or is my faith misplaced, resulting in disappointment and despair? What do I actually trust?

Some people might assume that churchgoers have a strong and properly di­rected faith. Yet, there are many who attend church whose faith seems to make little or no difference in their daily lives. Why? There are many reasons, but the sad truth is that too many of us are far more products of our culture than of our faith. Too many of us have a secular-humanistic worldview rather than a biblical worldview. Our personal convictions and lifestyle during the week may contradict what we profess in church on Sunday.

What are we like when the rubber meets the road? What practical effect does our faith have on our family life, finances, job performance or our attitudes? It matters not what we say we believe, but it matters greatly what we actually believe. Jesus knew the difference between the two, do you?

Personal stability or the lack thereof is determined by what we really believe. If our faith is defective, it’s like bad apples, it corrupts whatever it touches. If our faith is effective, it results in a realistic outlook on life. A strong and properly directed faith can help put the pieces of the sky back together.

When Paul said that “the just shall live by faith”, believe me, he knew what he was talking about! But he could also have said, the wise, loving, sane and stable shall live by faith! Faith in what? What kind of faith do we need?

II. What Kind of Faith Do We Need?

We need a proven direction from a faith that can turn tension into trust. We can see this faith best exemplified in the great men and women of God who lived throughout history. What prompted Abraham to leave a life of comfort and take off for who knows where? What is it that gave David the courage to face Goliath? Why was Esther willing to risk her very life for her people? What is it that enabled Daniel to face the Lion’s Den? What is it that enabled Paul to rejoice while undergoing persecution in prison?

Is there any common denominator which these heroes of the faith possessed? Perhaps so. The writer of Hebrews tells us that these great men and women of God considered themselves as Pilgrims or temporary residents on the earth who were in search of a heavenly homeland. This world was not their home, they were just pass­ing through. They were looking for a city whose builder and maker was God!

What they believed (the convictions they held regarding God and His will) helped them to see the world differently from their contemporaries. They saw this life as a journey of faith – an exciting adventure with the best still yet to come (Romans 8:18). If, they had a secret, what was it?

III. What is the Sojourners Secret?

Although these men and women of God were deeply concerned with their own societies and attempted to make everyday life better, their vision was focused on a higher horizon. They lived in the present in light of the future. Their vision of the future lifted them beyond the present. Their pilgrim mentality served to detach them from their contemporary problems in such a way as to put their everyday concerns into proper (realistic) perspective.

What about us? Do we, at times, have problems seeing the forest because we are standing up against a large tree? If so, then we need to step back and get the big picture. Do we see ourselves as pilgrims and exiles on the earth? Or are we wedded to the spirit of this age? Are we consciously cooperating with God in allow­ing Him to conform us to the image of Christ? Or are we allowing the world to squeeze us into its own mold?

Those who haven’t yet adopted a pilgrim mentality have paid a great price down through the ages. Love for this world caused Lot’s wife to look back at the destruc­tion of Sodom and Gomorrah; she became a pillar of salt. Love of this world’s riches caused the rich young ruler to miss the joy of following Christ.

World War II left us with the tragic and almost unspeakable examples of what can happen when material things become too important. The specter of millions of Jews being slaughtered by the Nazis continues to haunt Western Civilization. As sociolo­gists have pondered how such a massacre could be possible, they have noted a strange contradiction.

As early as 1935 or earlier many people saw the exterminations coming. While some of the Jewish population read the signs of the times and left, the majority remained. Why? Many social scientists believe the answer is clear. The lingering Jewish population was so tied to their homes, accumulations, things and cultural attachments that they closed their eyes to what was happening. Though Abraham was their father, they had ceased to be strangers and exiles. Settling into the culture cost many of them their very lives!

IV. Does Life Consist in Our Possessions?

In a similar way, many of us are utterly locked into our world of possessions. While our enemies may not be as easily identified as the Nazis, they’re just as real. The forces of materialism, consumerism and secularism are powerfully marching through our lives, stripping away the meaning and purpose that’s essential for a sense of well-being. We don’t end up in concentration camps but many of us are prisoners of the despair and the futility we feel in our lives!

In contrast to this, God describes the sojourner as motivated by the quest for a heavenly homeland. The Christian pilgrim has a purpose much greater than himself or the world around him; he’s involved in the greatest enterprise in this life of the next

– the realization of the Kingdom of God! On the other hand, people who aim only at this world, lose even that. A wise man once said, He is no fool who gives up what he can’t keep to gain what he can’t possibly lose.

An anonymous writer has given us this story of an American tourist’s visit to a 19th century Polish pastor who was looked upon by the people of his time to be an extremely wise and saintly person. On his arrival at the Pastor’ residence, the tourist was astonished to discover that it consisted only of a simple room, crammed with books, plus a table and chair.

“But Pastor,” the tourist said, “Where’s your furniture?” To which the Pastor re­plied, “Where’s yours?” “Where’s mine?” said the puzzled tourist. “I’m just a visitor, just passing through.” “So am I,” answered the Pastor, “So am I.”

V. Do You Have a Pilgrim Mentality?

How about you? Do you have a pilgrim mentality? Is it part of your self-identity? Do you need to develop a pilgrim mentality? Do you know how? Let me share with you a hypothetical situation which will help you to answer the question. Just suppose that when you go home today you discover that your house is entirely destroyed by fire – all your earthly possessions are gone! Could you look up at heaven and say: “God, you know where my treasure has been all along (in heaven with You)”? Actress Suzanne Summers had her house burn recently and that was her attitude. My father used to say, “If you can replace a loss with money it can’t be too impor­tant.”

1. Is your life tied to temporal goals that will crumble and perish or…
2. Is your life tied to eternal goals that will endure? Perhaps some of you are saying, “I need a pilgrim mentality, but how do I go about achieving it?”

Suppose a complete stranger walked down the street, knocked on your neighbor’s door and gave him $100. No questions asked; no explanation given. And he did this for 30 consecutive days. And then on the 31st day bypassed your neighbor and gave you $100. How do you think your neighbor would feel? Disap­pointed? Frustrated? Angry? (Because he feels he has it coming?)

When you think about it, isn’t this the way we react towards God? We falsely assume that God owes us at east 70 years of health, wealth and happiness. And when God doesn’t live up to our expectations, we get angry at Him. Actually, life is a gift. All we are and have, we owe to God. He doesn’t owe us any thing!

The truth is we’re dependent of God’s unmerited favor (grace) for everything! If we have an attitude of gratitude in response to God’s grace, then and only then will we develop a proper outlook on life. Life is not only a gift, but it doesn’t last long. “What is your life? It is a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14). If you don’t believe the Apostle James, just ask a few gray-haired people in the congregation. Since life is short, it’s imperative that we make wise investments of all that God has entrusted to us – our time, our talent, our treasure. Why? Because Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matt. 6:21).

The final step in developing a pilgrim mentality is having Christ as the focal point for our faith. Christ is both the pioneer and perfecter of our faith – the source and the goal of our faith. As we journey throughout our earthly pilgrimages, let’s not forget to keep our eyes firmly focused on Christ (Heb. 12:3).

As we constantly think about all that He has endured for us, we must not lose our purpose or our courage. Christ can not only keep us from going crazy, but as we learn to trust Him and obey His Word, we will find that our lives are more stable, satisfying and secure! May God give us grace to develop this “pilgrim mentality” so that we can start living in that heavenly city right now! And in God’s city the sky doesn’t fall!