The Abyss of Grey

This year I have taken the time to read four or five books that were written in the forties and fifties, and whose authors seemed to have some insight into the happenings and psyche of mankind’s future. To my knowledge, none of these men were Christians, which makes their thoughts even more interesting.

As I read the various volumes, the one word that kept occurring to me was greyness. The masses of people had devolved into mere automatons. Eric Fromm popularized this word with the following understanding:

Today we come across an individual who behaves like an automaton, who does not know or understand himself, and the only person that he knows is the person that he is supposed to be, whose meaningless chatter has replaced communicative speech, whose synthetic smile has replaced genuine laughter, and whose sense of dull despair has taken the place of genuine pain. Two statements may be said concerning this individual. One is that he suffers from defects of spontaneity and individuality which may seem to be incurable. At the same time it may be said of him he does not differ essentially from the millions of the rest of us who walk upon this earth. –Eric Fromm

In these books people were consistently depicted as being addicted to happiness, fun, and sensuality. Many of them had jobs they were less than enthusiastic about, but they could alleviate their boredom each evening by taking drugs that allowed them to escape reality during the evening hours but still be able to work the next day. They lived for the next vacation or next sexual escapade. They had little inherent purpose other than being an insignificant cog that kept the system going on in its same monotonous circle with no destination, all the while convincing themselves their lives had joy and meaning amid their purposelessness.

Couch potatoes watched the same shows that were not funny, but they laughed hysterically, unwilling to differentiate themselves from the crowd. All sense of beauty had long been erased. Creativity was lost as citizens gorged themselves on video screens that covered three or four walls of the living room—a room, which ironically, contained no life at all.

The buildings were sterile. The entire landscape was void of vibrant, contrasting colors. It was … totally grey.

Some sixty to eighty years later, many of those literary prophecies seem to have become fulfilled, especially when it comes to the greyness of life. Typical teenagers, with a full life in front of them, are now cynical and disillusioned about their future. Outside of playing on their phone, many have so little passion for anything. When I look into their eyes, there is a nihilistic emptiness. They seem to be slogging through life, with only enough vision and energy to put one foot in front of the other. This bothers me greatly. What is even more disconcerting is that I see a little of this creeping in the Christian homeschooling community. A different degree but the same kind. What is the answer? Jesus Christ!

I am convinced that this younger generation needs not simply a knowledge of God but a real encounter with Him. The information age has provided a steady stream of doctrine for our children, but this is no substitute for wisdom, born out of a real relationship with Him. Evangelicalism seems to run to the extremes of intellectualism and emotionalism with so few being able to find the balance. One side is accused of being doctrineless while the other is considered joyless.

What does this have to do with homeschooling? Everything. Homeschooling is about preparing our children for life. And we want our children to truly live. To appreciate beauty. To be a channel of God’s creativity. To reflect His glory to a grey world that is looking for genuine life in all the wrong places.

Please join us this month as we pray for our children to experience the power of God to the extent that it will transform their lives. While we are at it, let us pray the same for us parents. Some of us will be fasting the second Tuesday of the month if you want to join us. Others are praying these on a daily basis. May our children find their purpose, joy, energy, excitement from God alone.

1. Pray that our children will start hungering and thirsting after God at a young age.

• “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. –Matthew 5:6
• O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. –Psalms 63:1

2. Pray that our children will come to see their desperate need of a relationship with Jesus Christ.

• And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” –Is. 6:5
• The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? –Jer. 17:9

3. Pray that our children would truly see the person of Jesus Christ.

• So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” –John 12:21
• that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, –Phil 3:10

4. Pray that our children will not only see Christ but truly experience His presence.

• You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. –Psalms 16:11
• For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.–Psalms 84:10

5. Pray that our children will see the true effects of sin without having to experience it themselves.

• For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. –Romans 8:2
• But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. ¹⁵ Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. –James 1:14,15

6. Pray that the world would lose its allure in our children’s eyes.

• How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed! The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street. –Lam. 4:1
• And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. –1 John 2:17

7. Pray that our children will see the beauty of Christ and the beauty from Christ in this world.

• One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. –Psalms 27:4
• For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty! –Zech. 9:17

8. Pray that our churches will be infused with the power of God, the presence of Christ, and joy in the Holy Spirit that our children may love the church.

• And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. –Acts 13:52
• So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied. –Acts 9:31

9. Please continue to pray that God would visit the ICHE Family Conference with His presence and His power, that families, marriages, and lives would be changed for His glory.

• that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, –Acts 3:20
• And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” –John 12:32