Editorial May 27, 1991 Issue

Windows that open to God's love

Ann Kenrick

In his book The Gravedigger File, Os Guinness makes this perceptive observation: "Human life has traditionally been lived in a house with windows to other worlds. These windows may have sometimes become dirty, broken or boarded up, but they were always there. Only in the modern world have we achieved what has been called 'a world without windows.' Shut off from transcendence, modern people are shut up to triviality."

We can see a tendency in society today to focus thought on materiality as the only reality. The emphasis on material criteria, status, and personality for measuring success has sometimes been at the expense of spiritual growth. Reliance on "things" and persons for happiness does not bring the lasting satisfaction and security that mankind craves. Materialistic dependencies often have the effect of limiting and enslaving thought by locking it into a self-centered, circumscribed point of view.

In contrast, those who are striving to follow in the way of Christ Jesus find that his teachings and example are opening windows. The certainty of God's kingdom and of His power was a reality to Jesus, but the Master did not live in two worlds—one spiritual and the other material, one sacred and the other secular. For Jesus, the one reality was God's kingdom of heaven at hand. This meant that the world was deserving of compassionate attention, and of healing. It was to be restored or found in more of its original God-created perfection.

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