The Transistor
Here’s a secret. 😉 I’m not young. When I was young, I started working in electronics right when transistors were replacing vacuum tubes. It is staggering to me how much has changed throughout my career.
I remember being in an electronics class in college and the professor tossing a transistor to me. That means nothing, now, but vacuum tubes imploded when dropped, so throwing a transistor was a shocking way of demonstrating the end of a technology epoch and the start of a new one, the one we live in today.
Here you may righty posit, “Saying that we live in the same technical world as 1971 is absurd.” Well, on this point, I’d have to disagree with you. In 1962 a transistor was about this size of an Apple AirPod. However, it’s not a stretch to say that transistors are in every electronic device you own.
The Core i7 Intel® microprocessor, which isn’t the latest version, contains ~3 billion transistors, and that fits in your laptop. The method for manufacturing transistors has dramatically changed, but the transistor’s purpose hasn’t changed.
Jesus
Infinitely greater is the salvation and life which only comes from Jesus. His Gospel hasn’t changed.
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. – (Matthew 11:28)
Christ’s statement is profoundly disruptive. Jesus said that we find rest is in Him exclusively. It exists nowhere else (John 14:6). It’s not in Buddha or money. It is not in boyfriends, girlfriends, wives, husbands, sons, daughters, or best friends. It is not in people, places, or things. We can squander our lives trying to find rest for our souls, but we will never find it unless we turn to Jesus. Jesus said:
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” – (John 10:10)
The truth of Jesus has never changed. It was true when He said it, and it’s still true today. When we look at local churches, we find wildly different approaches.
Some are “high” churches that emphasize reverence. Some are evangelical and quote Bible verses from the King James Version, some are Anabaptist where the congregation leads much of the service, and the list goes on. Nevertheless, they all are called to the same purpose, to fulfill Christ’s call.
We are to go and lead the lost to Jesus, to provide a community for the saved, to minister to widows and orphans, and care for others’ needs. Methods have changed, but the Message is the same.
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[1] https://news-navigator.labs.loc.gov/data/mimtptc_bath_ver01/data/sn92063852/00279551345/1962111001/0361/010_0_95.jpg from the Library of Congress, Newspaper Navigator Dataset: Extracted Visual Content from Chronicling America
