Clocks and Values Forward

I had trained myself to minus the hour, a particularly hazardous affair while looking at the bedside alarm clock on those mornings I had to be at work. There is a danger that sleepy me will continue to perform that calculation, needlessly giving my employer an extra hour. Still, it reminds me of an important spiritual point. In Christian homes, we live according to a different standard. We are out of kilter with the prevailing norms and world view. Like the blessed man of Psalm 1 verse 1, we seem to exist in a lonely minority, avoiding the sinners, ungodly and scornful as they occupy the seats, paths and ways. In verse 5 however, God’s judgement has come, and the lonely, blessed man has become part of the majority; his previously rejected values have become mainstream. Last night, the country’s timings changed to reflect the ones shown in my home. One day, the Biblical values and Christian virtues to which we cling will not be considered weird, old fashioned or intolerant, for they will be mainstream.