I recently started reading Chaim Potok’s book, “The Chosen,” because I found the summary and commentary so intriguing.

“The Chosen” is a novel set prior to and near the end of World War II and centers around the tension existing between a father and son. But the tension was not unique to that father and that son. The commentator described it as, “tensions between the two poles of tradition and progress that almost inevitably develop within any culture.”

It actually hurt to read that statement. The idea is nothing new. Our world is full of tensions stemming from “progress.” I guess it hurt because I see this same tension hindering families, businesses and even the church.

Why does progress have to be an enemy? Don’t we have enough to battle against? Every tradition was once a progressive act itself, replacing an earlier form or method.

Tradition isn’t bad. It gets us to where we are and positions us for the future. But tradition can become caustic if we begin to worship it. I’m reminded of the time when God sent snakes to bite the Israelites in the desert (Numbers 21). [God also provided healing in the form of a serpent cast in bronze.] If those bitten by the snakes in the desert would simply look up to the bronze serpent on the pole, they would be healed. This was not only progress for those bitten, but it was prophetic for those searching for the Messiah.

However, by the time Hezekiah became king, hundreds of years later, the Israelites had begun worshipping the bronze serpent on the pole. Out of a heart of obedience, Hezekiah broke it into pieces so they could no longer worship it, as had been their tradition for hundreds of years (2 Kings 18).

I wonder if progress was what God had in mind when he spoke through the prophet Isaiah and said, “forget the former things do not dwell in the past. I’m doing a new thing.” (Isaiah 43:18-19).

In Pursuit