They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. (1 Peter 3:13-5)
Earlier Peter challenges those he writes to, 'For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do - living in debauchery...' You've got to love the word debauchery. It conjures all sorts of images. The Oxford defines it simply as excessive indulgence in sex, alcohol or drugs. I am struck by just how common warnings against over-indulgence are in the New Testament epistles. Was life in the first century Roman world so excessive?
I live in a city typecast for its excessive lifestyle . Big buildings, big mortgages and big appetites for food, alcohol, sex and drugs. This is where people come to party (when it is not raining!) The Gold Coast is known for its hedonism, for providing ample opportunity to gratify any narcissistic desire. Resisting the temptation to plunge into this flood of dissipation can be difficult. As a Pastor I despair when I see young people leave the (relative) security of a Christian home, school and church environment for far country wild living (Luke 15). I/we warn, we pray, we teach, we prepare and still the temptations win out.
Another feature of the Gold Coast is its beaches. Visitors are warned about the rips that can carry even the strongest of swimmers far out to sea. Swimming against the rip is tough work. The rip of our hedonistic culture of excessive materialism, consumerism and individualism that idolises experience over all else is strong. Only in God's power can we stand and then swim against it. And as a Pastor I must challenge others to do the same. This will mark me out as a wowser to some, a quint throwback to a supposedly more repressed era. So be it. For stand and swim we must.
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