Galatians 5:13
Our world has become a large, impersonal, busy institution.
We are alienated from each other. Although crowded, we are lonely. Distant. Pushed together but uninvolved.
No longer do most neighbours visit across the backyard fence. The well-manicured front lawn is the modern moat that keeps barbarians at bay.
Hoarding and flaunting have replaced sharing and caring. It's like we are occupying common space but have no common interests, as if we're on an elevator with rules like: "No talking, smiling, or eye contact allowed without written consent of the management."
Painful though it may be for us to admit it here in this great land of America, we're losing touch with one another.
The motivation to help, to encourage, yes, to serve our fellow-man is waning...And yet, it is these things that form the essentials of a happy and fulfilled life.
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Excerpted from Charles R. Swindoll, Wisdom for the Way (Nashville: J. Countryman, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2001). Copyright © 2001 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.