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Fifty years ago, the seven top discipline problems in high school were these: talking, chewing gum, making noise, running the halls, getting out of line, wearing improper clothes, and flying paper airplanes in class. Today, it’s drug abuse, pregnancy, suicide, rape, robbery, assault, and guns. In the good ole days, service stations gave us service, and with a nickel, you could ride the streetcar, make a phone call, or buy a Pepsi. Those good ole days are gone, and some things we hope will never return. Yet when we see how morals have declined, we long to see a return to God’s standards of behavior. The reality is that God’s standards do not change, even though we invent new ways to violate them. Our prayer today should be that of the saints of old, captured for us in Psalm 80, “Come to rescue us! Turn us again to yourself, O God. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved.” James Orr rephrased the psalmist’s words in this hymn, “O Holy Ghost, revival comes from Thee; Send a revival, start the work in me; Thy word declares Thou wilt supply our need; For blessings now, O Lord, I humbly plead.” In this hymn, Orr recognized two critical truths. One — revival does not come from us, but from God; and two — revival might well begin with any one of us. By submitting ourselves to God, we may be the one God uses to do a new thing in our day.
