How Did We Go From ‘Father Knows Best’ to ‘Modern Family’ So Quickly?
We live in a world that is quickly moving from a biblical worldview to a secular, humanistic worldview. The speed of this change has been shocking, as we have transitioned from Father Knows Best to Modern Family.
Not only has our world changed, but the values and lifestyle of those who have the loudest voices of influence have changed also. Today, we have politicians on both sides of the aisle supporting issues that are diametrically opposed to biblical principles. Celebrities and sport superstars openly live and promote lifestyles that would have brought repudiation a generation ago. Prisons are full. Families are destroyed. Children are murdered in the womb. Sexual harassment, abuse and rape are promoted in popular music, books, television programs and movies.
Most believers in Yeshua (Jesus) recognize not just a responsibility to use their influence to affect change, but they also understand they have a calling to make an impact on the world. We have millions of believers who have the strong desire to enter this battle for the souls of men, but many simply don’t know what to do.
As with everything else, the Bible provides not only an answer to what to do, it actually provides a step-by-step guide for you and I to follow to become world changers. We have been given the six key principles to use through our influence to influence those with influence and to watch as those we influence then use their influence.
In the book of 2 Kings 7, we find an interesting story about the experience of four lepers, which provides these six key principles:
In verse 3-4 (TLV), we find the first key: Accept the truth that we are all going to die.
“Now there were four men with tza’arat (leprosy) at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, ‘Why should we sit here till we die?'”
These four men had no problem understanding that they were lepers, considered outcasts of society and they were going to die. They decided that they were going to accept the truth. We must accept our truth. We are lepers to the world. We know our “old-fashioned values” make us outcasts. We can either choose to do nothing and die, or we can follow the example of these men and recognize who and what we are and understand that the worst thing that can happen is that nothing would become different.
In verse 4, we find the second key: Go into the city.
“If we say: ‘Let’s go into the city,’ then the famine is in the city, so we will die there; but if we sit still here, we’ll die also. So come, let’s go into the camp of the Arameans. If they spare us, we’ll live; and if they kill us, we’ll just die.”
Yes, going into our city can be dangerous, and we risk being hurt and rejected. However, our only hope is to enter the city. We must remember the worst thing that can happen if we enter the city is that nothing might change.
In verse 8, we find the third key: Eat, drink and receive.
“When these men with tza’arat came to the edge of the camp, they entered into one tent, ate and drank, and took from there silver, gold, and clothes, then went and hid them. Then they returned and went into another tent, and took from there too, and went and hid them.”
Once you enter the city and experience the victory that only G-D can bring, stop for a moment and be strengthened with what G-D has blessed you. Sometimes we enter into a time of great victory, but we never stop to be strengthened by the blessings that the victory provides for us.
In verse 9, we find the fourth key: Remember.
Then they said to each other, “It’s not right, what we’re doing. This day is a day of good news, and we’re keeping silent! If we wait till the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go now and report to the king’s household.”
While there are times when, as stated above, we enter a time of blessing and victory without stopping to be strengthened by it, there are also times when we enter that period of blessing and are blessed to such an extent that we become spiritually selfish. Once we have been filled, it is vital that we remember we entered the city because our nation was at war, and we realized we were lepers and were going to die. We cannot allow the blessings of G-D to cause us to forget the war is still going on around us and others are dying and desperate for the blessings we are experiencing.
In verse 10, we find the fifth key: Influence those whom you can reach.
“So they came and called out to the city gatekeepers, and told them, ‘We went to the camp of the Arameans, and look, there was not a single soul there, no human voice—just the horses and the donkeys tied up, and the tents just as they were.'”
While the men knew that ultimately they needed to share the message of hope, blessing and salvation with the king, they also knew that because they were lepers and perceived as outcasts, they could not get an audience with the king. They didn’t let this truth stop them from using the access they possessed to influence those that they could reach.
In verse 11, we find the sixth key: Trust those you can influence to influence others.
“Then the gatekeepers called out, and it was reported to the royal palace inside.”
Once the lepers influenced the gatekeepers, they got out of the way and let the gatekeeper influence those inside the palace, who ultimately reached and influenced the king. Remember, like the four lepers, we are in a nation at war. We may be outcasts, but we are not without influence. If we rise up and follow biblical principles, we can influence those who can reach those in power, and we can see our nation turn to G-D and receive His blessings and provision. {eoa}
Eric Tokajer is author of With Me in Paradise, Transient Singularity, OY! How Did I Get Here?: Thirty-One Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me Before Entering Ministry, #ManWisdom: With Eric Tokajer and Jesus is to Christianity as Pasta is to Italians.
