God help us

I am not sure what to write this morning, so I will just start and see were my thoughts lead. Often, it is difficult for any one of us to see why we matter, or if we matter. I must needs begin at the beginning to explain our individual importance. Firstly, looking upward, you are here, alive, a part of the cumulative populous of this world. Therefore, you have been created in His image; just who you are He loves you. If God created you, you have a purpose - to love and honor our God. Why do so many feel completely displaced among the living? Because they lack that fundamental purpose. Secondly, looking outward, you have a life that intermingles and mixes with a vast number of persons around you, many of which you are completely unaware. We have loved ones, often a spouse. Many of us have children and grandchildren. We have our church families. We have friends who know us well and we have acquaintances that know us casually. We have coworkers. We interact with countless people, just like us, on a daily basis – even if that interaction is in a virtual setting. We are aware of them and they are are of us.

The underlying dysfunctionality in our culture today is that we do not see “them”. We are so inwardly focused that we refrain from connecting with anyone who does not make us feel better about our selfish selves. Abstaining to associate with anyone who would challenge our way of thinking. Constantly seek reinforcement of our settled ideas about life, about ourselves. That has brought us to where we are as a society. Where we can cheer when the free speech of those we disagree with is silenced. Where we revel in the punishment of those who dare to have a different opinion from that which we hold as truth. This is a dangerous precipice to be standing upon because there is no safety for anyone in that cultural atmosphere. Each of will eventually be judged unfit to linger among the accepted.

Think about it. As we become more and more focused on ourselves, what we like or dislike, what we want and do not want, what we will accept and what we will not accept, we become less and less focused on how our choices in meeting “our needs” affect those around us. We say, “So what if ‘they’ cannot speak. I did not like what ‘they’ were saying anyway. I’m glad I don’t have to hear it anymore.” We do not just want to tune “them” out. We want “them” silenced. And that works just fine for you until something you say is disagreed with. Apologize as you may, you suddenly, without warning become “them”. That is what is happening in our America today. Some of us realize we are “them” just because we believe in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We believe in individual freedom. In God-given unalienable rights.

That belief is anathema to many – not just to some, to many. Conservative views, my views, have been stricken from the internet with the push of a button. Do not kid yourself into thinking that will not happen to us. Believers are next. I hesitate to use the term Christian, because the meaning has become so watered down as to become contextually meaningless, but any religion recognizing salvation through Jesus Christ alone is something the ruling class and many religions will not tolerate well. When they have the power, and it seems they do at the moment, we will become their prime target. At that point we will get to test the depths of our personal faith. Will that moment come soon? I do not know, but when it comes for us individually, it will come suddenly – without warning. We will simply be unplugged. Unable to communicate. Unable to get on a plane. Unable to access health care. Unable to access our bank accounts. Unable to buy or sell.

For many years I could not see how all this could possibly come about in the Unites States of America. Now I can. Our individual selfishness has been our demise. But…there is a remedy - in the very person that is despised and rejected, Jesus Christ. Only God can heal our land and give us the perspective of true love one for another that will bring about the change that put the needs of others above our own personal needs. Only God can open our eyes to the blindness that has led us into the ditch we are now wallowing in. Our eyes, the eyes of believers must be the first to open to our own lack of faith, our own selfishness, our own desire to see ourselves as justified in our opinions regardless of how the Bible views those strongly held opinions. We, as believers, need to get right with God.

It may be a painful process, but the fruits of repentance are long-lasting. Our repentance can be blessed by God in unique ways. Right now, that is what we need, as individual believers, as the Church, as a nation.

God help us to seek Him and His righteousness. Matt 6:33