Perception or Deception?

Last week my family rented a little house on the Chesapeake Bay as a base of operations for our vacation. The house was next to a nature preserve and the beach was undeveloped - no hotels, no stores, no restaurants. One morning we headed to the beach early because thunderstorms were predicted for later in the day. 

As I approached the water's edge that morning and the first little waves washed over my feet I jumped back from the first shock of the cold.  At that point, if it had been up to me, I would have retreated to the warm safety of the beach blanket, but a certain little girl wanted to play in the ocean so I had to keep venturing out.

After a few minutes of wading just ankle-deep, the temperature didn't seem quite so bone-chilling.  Little by little, I walked further out into the water until the water no longer seemed that cold, but rather refreshing and pleasant.

I've noticed that in our culture there are things that at one time were shocking to hear which are now quite commonplace.  The first introductions of those subjects were like a figurative slap in the face to the mainstream of our culture but as the media continued bombarding us with the same messages over a period of time, the average person began to become accustomed to the new normal that was being presented, just like I got used to the temperature of the ocean water.  In some cases, not only the culture but the church herself began to retreat from what the word of God teaches and began to conform to the world. 

I fell into this very trap myself in my late teens and early twenties.  I remember being in the middle of my sinful lifestyle and being so angry with people who wanted me to act in a more conventionally moral way.  I used to consider those people to be close-minded.  Now I know that it's possible to be so open-minded that your brains fall out! 

The temperature of the water in the Chesapeake Bay that morning didn't change one degree in the short time I was wading.  Only my perception of the cold changed.  God's Word does not change.  It's up to us to place ourselves in agreement with what He says instead of expecting Him to "get with the times".