By Lupe Diaz – Pastor
Globalism has brought people into a new level of concern. There are issues that the general population never considered before. In the past these issues were reserved for the political elite, not any more. Now everyone can join the ranks of the concerned.
With the explosion of real time coverage, not only through computers but through cell phones, we are subjected (willingly I might add) to real time events. Now we have it in an instant.
We do all we can merely to keep up with it all so we can be part of the concerned global society. As we have come into this globalism it has made the world smaller, in theory. It has convenently brought the immensity of our problems to every member of this society. It seems that the answers to our problems have a have no solution. The issues now become a massive threat by mere virtue of volume.The reason is that it is a threat is that is no longer in our personal neighborhood or our communities, it far more reaching than just our little corner of the world.
One response in the heart of many is to resign. The voice of resignation says, "How can I think that I have solutions to the worlds problems when I don't have solutions to my own problems. The neighborhood has gotten much larger and I never claimed to have the solutions and now its grown even larger.
Another response I have observed is negligence to the local problems and disguised as concern for the greater good, globalism. As long as I look at the whole then I don't have to care about that which is at my door step (I can hide behind this and not have to look at what is near me.). The attitude can be I am to busy caring for the greater good, I don't have time to reduce myself for the minuet. One example of this is that we send money to support the starving children overseas but not do anything to help the local family.
One position pushes a person to give up and the other takes on airs about global concerns. The result is the same no one is doing anything local. Is this building a false perception that keeps people isolated from one another. This has made people lonely in the middle of a crowded city. People need to touch people personally in order to find validation and purpose.
The individual has become the insignificant. The value of the individual has been swallowed up with the size of the challenges facing this new world. The only way to find oneself in a culture like ours is to know that we are valuable in the eyes of God. This take the time to hear about the teaching of God.
I wonder how much of this is a distraction brought about by the devil. Designed by him to cause us to distrust and to loose sight of the will of God (greater cause) and weightier part of life? I believe it has affected our lives today. in greater ways than we would like to admit.
On the other hand this also opens a door of opportunity. As the value of people is tied to an illusive, conceptualized or perceived cyber neighborhood, it has created a thirst in people for purpose and a need for individual value. This we can find as we study the Bible with other people who have found the will of God and his way of living.
It is amazing to see how some people will get lost in this kind of world while others will strive in it, and never once see the need of their neighbor who might live in the same room. Some have become afraid of this new world while others are embracing it yet never see the transformation that it is bringing to our society and eventually affects us.
I am reminded of the statement that Pharaoh said when Moses requested that the people have some time off to worship their God.
"But he (Pharaoh) said, You have no love for work: that is why you say, Let us go and make an offering to the Lord. Go now, get back to your work; no dry stems will be given to you, but you are to make the full number of bricks.[Bible in Basic English] (Exodus 5:18)"
We need to get back to the basics. In our global society we need to get back to God and take the time to worship him in our local setting and not get caught up in making bricks for the very thing that has us all bound up.