In the last decade or so, the younger generation typically accuses the older generation of being “old school”. An “old school” method of transportation may be described as horse and buggy or train whereas the up-to-date alternative would be automobile or airplane. Obviously that type of contrast could be made for methods of education, mores, style of homes or clothes. Indeed, there is a measure of truth in that phrase, so it would be appropriate to use in various situations. If used improperly, it could also be interpreted as discriminatory or condescending.
The more adventurous, entrepreneurial type among us prefer eating different breakfast foods or lunches rather than the same old, same old. Obviously, that is not a bad thing only different than those who don’t really care what they eat because life consists of more than food, so they eat only to keep from getting hungry. Albert Einstein was known to put on two different colors of socks and even different shoes because what he wore was unimportant to him.
This desire for something new or updated can go astray when it comes to a marriage relationship. Exploring an intimate relationship with a different spouse is extremely destructive to more than just the adventurous mate. Not only does that lead to a painful divorce, it damages others around them, especially the children. By the same token it is not acceptable in a relationship with God or faith in Him. He requires a much narrower bandwidth of thought. As Moses wrote You must worship no other gods, for the LORD, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about his relationship with you (Exodus 34:14, NLT2).
Isaiah was a prophet in a time when the worship of God had become limited to an empty ritual with empty rhetoric. It had become so bad that the priests and prophets staggered and reeled due to alcoholic addiction to the point their tables were covered with vomit. Isaiah prophesied against that warning them of God’s judgment, but they mocked his “old school” way of thinking and method of teaching. They essentially wanted him to tell them things they wanted to hear. In this context Isaiah said to them For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people (Isaiah 28:11, NKJV) a verse Paul virtually quotes in 1 Corinthians 14:21. Isaiah said that since they would not learn the simple truths of life from God’s spokesmen, they would learn them from the lips of Assyrian taskmasters and at the end of their whip and prod.
What might that say to us today about adapting to new teachings or new ways of doing things? From this it seems quite clear that we can adapt to new cultural ways of doing life, but there are unbending limits that separate what we can change and what we cannot change. We CANNOT deviate from “old school” righteous attitudes and teaching of the ways and values in God’s word. God’s method of teaching, even though it sounds “old school” and some will mock it, was modeled by Isaiah. His critics described it as He tells us everything over and over— one line at a time, one line at a time, a little here, and a little there! (Isaiah 28:10, NLT2).
This concept leads me to wonder just how much have I conformed to this world in areas where I instead need to be transformed by His Spirit (Romans 12:2)? How might you have inadvertently done the same? Holy Spirit, PLEASE open our eyes to what is near and dear to YOU, even if it makes us peculiar compared to our society.