Are you a fan of period pieces? Perhaps you enjoy being transported back about 100 years in Mary Poppins, or to the 19th century in Pride and Prejudice or further back yet to the days of Moses in The Ten Commandments. There is something particularly captivating about bygone eras. Maybe you find yourself drawn to the simplicity, or apparent naiveté, of the past. Have you daydreamed about what it must’ve been like to live at that time?
A habit of some is to hark back to earlier times in their own lives with a wistful sense of longing for “the good ol’ days.” You’ve heard the sayings and, if you’re being honest, may have said them yourself. “They don’t make ‘em like they used to” or “Life was better before computers (or cell phones, or social media, or…).” Maybe you’ve made similar assessments about the presumed decline of society. “Boy, it’s not like it used to be” or “When I grew up we didn’t even have to lock the doors.”
From a particular perspective there is truth to be found in each of these statements, but often the overarching message is that now is worse. Today’s products, schooling, culture—it’s all worse. This is a slippery slope with a decidedly narrow edge. Besides the worldly arguments that can be made about the benefits of ongoing advances in civil liberty, technology and medicine (to name a few), the Bible has something to say about today. It speaks to the exact day in which you live.
First, the truth found in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 applies to every age.
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
From this we understand that, subsequent to the Fall, there is no moment in history about which we can legitimately say “Those were the days.” The variety of circumstances listed by the author of Ecclesiastes applies to every age.
Second, God is the architect of every era. The God that brought the circumstances about to create the era that you pine away for is the same God that brought about today’s circumstances. Therefore, in addition to the possibility (or even likelihood) that it’s not worse today than it used to be, we know for a fact that today is exactly as it should be. To that end, Ecclesiastes also says, “He has made everything beautiful in its time” (Ecc. 3:11).
This means that it is unwise for you to spend much time on the narrow edge of “the good ol’ days” adjacent to that precipitous slippery slope. That edge has very little objective room to work with. That form of nostalgia may demonstrate an ignorance of God’s stewardship over time or, worse, a sinful discontentment with the one in which He has placed you.
Consider Ecclesiastes chapter three one more time:
I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man. (Ecc. 3:12)
Resist the temptation to complain about the times. Thank God for the one in which He has established you. Apply yourself to doing good in it and take pleasure in your role. It is His gift to you.