Days Gone By

By Darwin Hunter

It is very human to fondly recall “days gone by”...to reminisce about the “old days.” It is also a favorite pastime of anyone over 40 (that’s me, and then some!). It is too bad that the days gone by are gone! Wouldn’t it be wonderful to get some of them back?

Back then, honesty was a common ordinary thing. I remember the days when we would leave the house unlocked, and cars unlocked in the driveway. We didn’t have to worry about the lawnmower being left outside overnight; we believed, with good reason; that it would be there in the morning when we awoke. Veteran preacher, Tom Holland, in a book about his childhood days on a depression-era farm in Alabama, recalls the days in which barns and houses were left unlocked all of the time, and keys were left in pickups and tractors. He relates how that neighbors helped each other, and that an open-door policy was followed by all In their farm country, if a neighbor needed to borrow something, they just helped themselves to it out of their neighbor’s shed, even if the owner was not at home, and then returned it after use! Oh yes, those days are far gone now.

All of this reflects a time in which parents taught their children basic honesty and Christian charity. Children grew up learning such Scriptures as, “Provide things honest in the sight of all men,” “Let your communication be Yea yea; Nay, nay” and “Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not away”(Romans. 12:17; Matthew. 5:37,42). Generations past thought that one’s reputation mattered and should be carefully maintained (1 Timothy. 4:12). They taught sexual purity and common decency to their children (Ephesians. 5:3-5). They taught the evils of drinking and dancing, and low women and crude men were frowned upon and used as examples of what NOT to become (Ephesians. 5:11-16).

In our day, these things have been in large measure abandoned in the home. What a shame! Today’s kids look up to Britney Spears and Kid Rock as role models rather than to decent, moral people who know how to dress modestly and use pure speech! Christian parents must redouble their efforts to teach the old values of the Bible to their children (Ephesians. 6:4; Deuteronomy. 6:1-7). Here’s hoping that days gone by are not completely gone among the people of God!