The Five Most Significant Events of America's History
20 If you died with Christ to the elements of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations: 21 “Don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch”? 22 All these regulations refer to what is destined to perish by being used up; they are human commands and doctrines. 23 Although these have a reputation for wisdom by promoting self-made religion, false humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence.
3:1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Colossians 2:20–3:4
“When I was a kid…” You’ve either said it or heard it, usually to share how easy kids now-a-days have it and how times have changed, and boy have they changed. I can think of three things in 2020 that some people may look at in history as being very significant events in America’s History: the coronavirus and repercussions, the intensified fighting for racial equality, and the supreme court ruling on June 15th that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act protects LGBTQ workers from discrimination. If you were to ask a handful of people what the top five most significant events in America’s history are, you would get a great variety of answers. That said, I will share my thoughts on the five most significant events of America’s history.
They are as follows: God’s speaking into creation the heavens and the earth; God’s speaking to His creation in an revelatory way; God’s speaking to humanity in His Son, the Living Word; the moment a person responds to Christ in faith, and the moment His Son returns with words of judgment.
I admit the title and prompt are a little misleading because these things apply not only to America but apply to all people at all times, and the last one has not yet happened (but a time is fixed when it certainly will!). Nevertheless, is it not all too easy for us to develop that here-and-now vision, a type of tunnel vision, where we live for the here-and-now, we desire the here-and-now, we seek the here-and-now, and we end up seeing only the here-and-now? Are we surprised? We ought to be, on the contrary, fixing our minds on things above, filling our hearts with the truth of God’s Word (it is unfathomable that this God has spoken!). Our chief concerns should not be ‘am I comfortable?’ or ‘have I saved enough to be well-off?’ or ‘how do I appear in that person’s eyes’ or any other self-centered thought our minds are all too good at generating. If we are not constantly fighting to fix our eyes on Jesus, fix our hope on His second coming, wash and water our hearts with His Word, we will inevitably develop this here-and-now vision. I’ve noticed it in myself; I imagine we’ve all noticed it at some point, and we all so desperately need Christ’s help to live not for the here-and-now, but to live for the glory of Christ, looking to the ‘then-and-later’.
