Beware of 2020 Vision
I’ve been wearing glasses since I was in my forties and I am very thankful for them. Sometimes, however, I have a brief moment when I long for the vision I used to have when I could see everything without glasses, when my vision was closer to 20/20.
I have a list of blog ideas that I turn to when a topic eludes me. As I was adding to that list the other day, I saw a topic that I kept meaning to get to in 2020 but never did. The topic was today’s title: “Beware of 2020 Vision.” Today, I should probably call it “Beware of 2021 Vision,” but it doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, does it?
While “Beware of 2020 Vision” has been floating around in my head, I have also held on to an index card with a snippet of a quote from C. S. Lewis, in which he warned of problems when we “isolate the mind in its own age.” That snippet doesn’t exactly have a ring to it, but it is packed with truth, and the two thoughts go together.
In 2020 we needed to beware of 2020 vision and this year we need to beware of 2021 vision. How foolish we are when we “isolate the mind in its own age.” When we surround ourselves with only today’s news and today’s tweets and today’s posts, we starve our hearts, minds, and souls. Our hearts, minds, and souls need the wisdom and knowledge of the past to inform and nourish us now.
We need the wisdom and knowledge God has given us in His Word, and we need the stories of how people in the past have dealt with the issues that are in today’s news and tweets and posts. We also need His Word and their stories to help us handle the real day-to-day things that are happening in our real world that are not reported, tweeted, or posted. You know what I mean—the stuff we actually live.
For whatever was written in earlier times
was written for our instruction,
so that through perseverance
and the encouragement of the Scriptures
we might have hope.
Romans 15:4