I am bringing Moses home this afternoon in my time machine. We will arrive in the woods. That won’t shock him too much. He’s used to trees and pastures.
“Things sure are green here in the future.”
“Well, this is the Texas Gulf Coast—the Texas Hill Country looks more like Israel.”
As we emerge from the trees into the pasture, the old man leans on his staff and looks ahead to the house.
“Now what is that building up there—and those white beasts?”
“That’s my little barn, and those are Great Pyrenees, dogs bred to herd sheep.”
We walk on.
“And these fences?”
“They’re metal wire. Cheap stuff, actually. But there is electricity on some of them.”
“Electricity?”
“Invisible power. If you touch it, it feels like a bee sting. Goes away instantly, but it keeps the animals from destroying the fence. We’ll talk about electricity more after we go inside.”
“Now is that a temple there built of stones?”
“No, that’s the house. Mine’s quite small, actually—more of a cottage. America flows with milk and honey like you would not believe–some of the houses are huge! Oh, and wait till you discover air conditioning.”
Imagine how overwhelmed Moses would be. The refrigerator, running water, and a flush toilet might be enough for one day. What would he think of grocery stores? Of butcher shops where meat is processed and packed for you? Of eggs available by the thousands? Of year-round fresh fruit?
Modern technology has solved or greatly reduced many problems addressed by the law of Moses: leftover food, meat processing, toilets, mold, leprosy, and more. On top of that, we have radio, television and the internet. We pay for things without cash. We save lives with antibiotics (there’s something we take for granted) and vaccines have eradicated smallpox, polio, and other diseases. There’s cars and jet travel and cellphones. I’ve often dreamed of a movie in which Leonardo da Vinci travels to the future, but I cannot imagine an ending in which he is not depressed. The changes in the way humans live are almost incomprehensible. Anyone traveling from the past would feel that nothing they did back in their own time had any meaning—whatever ripples their life may have made in the pond of humanity have long sense disappeared. “No one remembers the former generations, and those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them” Ecclesiastes 1:11. It’s enough to destroy your joy.
But God’s word remains the same. How do you find meaning and purpose in life? How do you find lasting joy? It was the same in the time of Moses as it is today. And Moses said it first:
“Rejoice before the Lord your God in everything that you do” Deuteronomy 12:18.
Solomon, Paul, and James said it too: CHOOSE JOY. See Ecclesiastes 2:24; Philippians 4:8; James 1:2.
Every day you have a choice. CHOOSE JOY.
ΑΩ
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