A TIME TO CONSIDER OUR SOCIETYS VALUES

Christmas is here again, the shops are busy, queues are huge, kids are excited and every one is gearing themselves up for the two days when it'll all stop; we'll eat, drink, be merry and then start rushing around again in the sales. This year there is an expectation for the sales to be really good with the retailers desperate to shift stock because the economic future still looks shaky.

The situation with Woolworths has brought the reality of the credit crunch to the high street and perhaps this shock will change the way we assess our lives. Perhaps the days of financial carelessness are over?

We have formed a society accustomed to a throwaway lifestyle and many have lost the real value of life replacing it with wealth, possessions and lust. The financial uncertainty may cause some people to be angry because of the fear of losing the lifestyle we have become accustomed to. For some when all the success of this world is stripped away they may find themselves scared and uncertain about how much they have trusted in what they have gained.

Maybe the financial uncertainty will cause us to remember what is really important in life. At Cross Rhythms we believe that the real value of life isn't in what we own, or how much money we have, but it is in how God values us, (He sent His Son to die for us), and how much of God's love we allow to come through us to this broken world we live in. We sincerely hope and pray that during these times people will search and seek for the meaning of life. In the adversity of these days wouldn't it be inspiring to see the British spirit once again rise up out of the apathy and complacency we have drifted in to? Many of the younger generation and older ones too, haven't felt that there has been anything to fight for, but maybe we've missed the real battles of love and compassion.

Recently Billy Graham prayed on a radio station in America which caused the biggest response of any in the station's history. It's a timely prayer of repentance that echoes across the Atlantic and finds a place in our own country:

'Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem.

We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbour's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen"

At Cross Rhythms 96.3FM we seek to put hope into the heart of Plymouth….and to point people in the direction of Eternal Life. We can all rest in the storms when our perspective is bigger than the few fleeting years we experience in this life.