Escape

by Zeke Flores

Now there’s a word we think more of lately. Remember when many avenues of escapism - dining out, movie-going, etc. - were taken away from us in hopes of mitigating the virus? Our hopes for escape were higher than ever.

One way to be transported to a better “place” is through music. Anyone who knows me knows I like hard rock, but lately I’ve been finding escape through the music just before my time, the 50s and early 60s. Not only did our culture seem more innocent then (whether it was is debatable), the music reflected the optimism of the times. Even songs about lost love seem to have a more upbeat rhythm to them. I listen to that stuff and I imagine life in what seems like simpler times, without political savagery, gender confusion, and less hate.

Yeah, we want to escape.

That’s where Jesus comes in. He offers a breakaway from all that threatens our well-being in Him. Paul calls it a “rescue from this present evil age” in Galatians 1:4. But while Jesus doesn’t take us out of this “present evil age,” He does rescue us in it. It’s the great transfer between the domain of darkness and the kingdom of light, Paul spoke of in Colossians 1:12-14. We live in the profound tension between the “no longer” and the “not yet.” We live amidst sin and decay while awaiting an existence of eternal blessing and peace.

While we long for that day to come when the sorrows, frustrations, and disappointments of this “age” are forever gone, He offers us the grace we need to move and exist in it until He accomplishes the great and final escape.
And no music from any genre can do that.

"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen" (Galatians 1:3-5).