Do you remember this one: “The cosmos is all there ever is, ever was, and ever will be?” (I could not find it exact) This was what Carl Sagan started out his series on the universe with over 25 years ago. What he said then sums up his life philosophy pretty well, enjoy it while you are here, because when you die you will revert back to the dust from which you were created.

Fast forward to today and we have a new concept (or a new concept in old clothing) from the new book and DVD called The Secret. This book can be basically summed up in something like this; You control your destiny, think happy thoughts, avoid negative thoughts, and the world will be your oyster. Wow thanks, I did not know this.

Both Carl Sagan and The Secret have something inherent in them both, a commitment to materialism. Carl Sagan, by decreeing that The Cosmos is bigger and better than we ever can be leaves us in the default position of “get it all now because you wont enjoy it later”. The Secret (which I shall now reveal) leaves us in the default position that the universe owes you something, and all you have to do is tap into that cosmic piggy bank that has been waiting for you. If you do that you can get everything that will make you happy. All your happiness is contained inside this little book, and it is only $19.95 plus S & H.

The writer in Ecclesiastes sums things up quite well when he says “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecc 1:9) This is the exact same thing that the writer of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon, dealt with. It is all vanity and it all means nothing.

As a society…as Christians I am afraid, we have forgotten to remember those before us. We have left the foundational moorings that God gave his people, and we have been bereft in the sea ever since. Christians everywhere need to do three very foundational things in order to save those who are getting trapped in this terrible and selfish disease. We must:

1) TURN. Christians are to be set apart from non believers by the love that we show to eachother. (John 13:35) by loving eachother we will show the unity of Spirit that Jesus wants in his children. We must turn our eyes back upon Jesus in order to re order our priorities.

2) RELENT. To relent means to; to soften in feeling, temper, or determination; become more mild, compassionate, or forgiving. We must stop what we are doing and become more compassionate and forgiving. When we use ourselves as our own arbiter of our fate judge and jury we will never be compassionate and forgiving. We can become more soft in our disposition by living our lives submitted to Jesus Christ.

3) REMEMBER. “And you shall [earnestly] remember all the way which the Lord your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and to prove you, to know what was in your [mind and] heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.” (Deuteronomy 8:2) We must remember always that which God has done for us. When we forget we become ineffective and unyielded.

This is something I am going to have to do daily, but on this National Day of Prayer I think it is a great time to recenter my life on prayer and in doing so get my mind off of me, and onto Christ. Lets do this together and see what we can accomplish!