Let me just  quote what I read today on 1 Samuel 8.5, 19-20 (this is the narrative of Israel’s demand to Samuel for a king,   -

Our Aversion to Holiness:

By our “aversion to holiness” I simply mean that we do not like to be different for God’s sake.  We do not like to be distinct; we would rather blend.  So with Israel.  I noted above that in itself Israel’s desire for a  king, even a king “like all the nations,” was permissible according to Deuteronomy 17.14ff… However,  for Israel “like all the nations” is more than an expression; it becomes a passion.

After Samuel had solemnly warned Israel about what life under a king would be like, Israel refused to budge: “No, but a king must be over us, and we – we too – shall be like the nations…”  With a king, Israel says, we will fit, we will belong, we will, at last, get up to speed.  After all, this is the Iron Age, and we must have structures compatible with the demands of the new era.

Yet Israel was unique by definition. Read Deuteronomy 4. 32-40.  When since the beginning of time had any nation ever heard God speaking real verbs and adjectives and imperatives out of the middle of fire and still come away alive?  Has there ever been a god who took his own nation out of the clutches of another nation by bludgeoning its hard-headed, hard-hearted oppressors into submission by raw power and sheer terror?  Israel could not escape being different. But they could try.  “And we – we too – shall be like all the nations.”

True, we are a people under command.  “You shall be different because I, Yahweh you God, am different” (Lev. 19.2; the usual translation uses “holy” rather than “different,” but you get the point).  But Israel and the rest of us prefer to keep in step with our culture and fit into the molds of our society.  Who wants to stand out in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation?  Why should the church of Christians individually have a different definition of success?  Why should there be a certain detachment in our outlook (a la Heb. 11.13-16)?  Why a winsome purity in our conversation?  Why faithfulness in marriage?  Or chastity before it?  Why a seeking of justice for the helpless or a flowing of compassion to the neglected?  Why a passion for worship over entertainment?  Why prefer to enjoy God than to wallow after fulfillment?

Alexander Maclaren has put it well: “One of the first lessons which we have to learn… is a wholesome disregard of other people’s ways.”

Dale Ralph Davis is pastor of Woodland Presbyterian Church, Hattiesburg, Mississippi.  Previously he was Professor of Old Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary. So you don’t have to worry too much about his credentials!   It is nice finding a commentator who has not only taught in a good Seminary but also pastors currently!

An October 21, 2008 article appeared in the Wall Street Journal, titled “Trophy kids go to work“  Ron Alsop gives an apt appraisal of what this “investment” has produced….

When Gretchen Neels, a Boston-based consultant, was coaching a group of college students for job interviews, she asked them how they believe employers view them. She gave them a clue, telling them that the word she was looking for begins with the letter “e.” One young man shouted out, “excellent.” Other students chimed in with “enthusiastic” and “energetic.” Not even close. The correct answer, she said, is “entitled.” “Huh?” the students responded, surprised and even hurt to think that managers are offended by their highfalutin opinions of themselves.

If there is one overriding perception of the millennial generation, it’s that these young people have great — and sometimes outlandish — expectations.

Where do such feelings come from? Blame it on doting parents, teachers and coaches. Millennials are truly “trophy kids,” the pride and joy of their parents. The millennials were lavishly praised and often received trophies when they excelled, and sometimes when they didn’t, to avoid damaging their self-esteem. They and their parents have placed a high premium on success, filling résumés with not only academic accolades but also sports and other extracurricular activities.

In a Forbes op-ed article Entrepreneurship (or lack thereof) in Millennials Steven Berglas PHD makes these comments…

The oft-raised question–and it’s a big one for the U.S.–is whether millennials (also known as “The Everybody Gets A Trophy” generation) have been so coddled, so inoculated against insults and injury, that they are now too, well, soft to achieve entrepreneurial success.

Morley Winograd and Michael D. Hais, who co-wrote Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube and the Future of American Politics, have observed that millennial “mellowness” can be traced to child-rearing patterns marked by feel-good toddler shows like Barney (“I love you, you love me”, etc.)…

To the shock of anyone who has taught millennials, they (and their parents) think nothing of excoriating a professor with the temerity to give them a “bad” grade (as in, less than an “A”)

Now I grant that it is unfair to classify an entire generation this way.   I am sure there are many exceptions and to say there is none would be simplistic.  But to think this trend has no effect on you would be simply naive.  I think it imperative that every Christian ponder how his society is always squeezing him into its mold (Romans 12. 2 Phillips); we are commanded to be a resistance movement consisting of people with renewed minds by the word of God.  So we should take seriously the trends of our culture and consider their influences on our everyday thinking; not the least of these is our approach to child raising.

I am so thankful we have a heavenly Father who yeilded His passion for the safety and well-being of His only Son Jesus and sent him to live a life of humility, service and ultimately sacrifice for us!  The self-absorption generated by the Fall of Adam can only be militated against through this beautific vision of Jesus!  There is no other answer.  He did this for our kids, so that they can learn that self-absorption produces an endgame full of despair, anger and bitterness.  Only ressurection brings life;  but life after service and sacrificial living.  The only resurrection we should point to is the ressurrection after death.  Preserving the life of our kids is not only a distraction, and an expensive one at that, and it will never truly protect our kids.  Only God can do that!