light in the dark

 I've been listening to Allen Jackson again, and he said something that stuck in my mind: "One of the reasons we find ourselves in this mess we're in is we've stopped imagining the promises of God were necessary and we started accepting the promises of a government." In another sermon, he pointed out that the only way for darkness to increase is for the light to diminish.

We are living in an incredibly dark time right now, and it just continues to get darker. And as much as we would like to blame all those who are against God, this mess isn't their fault. It is ours--the people who claim to be followers of Christ, who have decided that it's okay for us to hide our light under a bushel.

I'm not ignoring all the political upheaval happening right now. In fact, I'm probably paying more attention to it than I really should be--the chaos and lies have me distracted more than I would like to admit. I fully believe that we are in for more than most of us can even imagine in this election cycle, chaos so much worse than what we've seen in the past few days of a failed assassination attempt and a sitting President who dropped out of the race via a social media post. We are being lied to and manipulated on a daily-- hourly-- basis. In the midst of that, though, there is one thing that stands true:

"When trouble surrounded me, I cried out to the Eternal;
    He answered me and brought me to a wide, open space.
⁶ The Eternal is with me,
    so I will not be afraid of anything.
    If God is on my side, how can anyone hurt me?
⁷ The Eternal is on my side, a champion for my cause;
    so when I look at those who hate me, victory will be in sight.
⁸ It is better to put your faith in the Eternal for your security
    than to trust in people.
⁹ It is better to put your faith in Him for your security
    than to trust in princes."
(Psalm 118:5-9, VOICE)

There isn't a human being on the face of the earth in whom we can place our trust. There's no political candidate who is going to ride in and save us. There's not somebody coming to turn our country around and fix all the problems (though none of those are reasons not to vote). If we as followers of Christ don't stand up and speak out against the evil that's being allowed to flourish in our nation, we will see it continue to spiral into darkness.

If we believe God's word, that means we believe that God determined when and where we should live. That means, like Esther in the Persian Empire, we were born for such a time as this. Each and every one of us has a role to play in God's plan, and we have to stand and fight. We have to stop hiding, because it is only the Light that can push back the darkness.

God's blessing?

There's a verse in 1 Peter that I hadn't really noticed before. It's funny how that keeps happening to me...books and chapters I've read many times, on pages with underlining or notes, but all of a sudden I read a verse that I've somehow missed. This time it was while we were studying at church Sunday morning:

"For the time for judgment has come,
and it is beginning with the household of God.
If it is starting with us,
what will happen to those who have rejected God’s good news?"
(1 Peter 4:17)

I've been listening to Pastor Allen Jackson a lot lately. I highly recommend that you do the same, but I'll warn you first--he's probably going to step on your toes. One thing he has been pointing out a lot lately? We as professed Christians can't blame the decay in our nation on "them". Our nation is in free-fall because we--those who claim to be followers of Jesus--have failed. We have let a nation founded on biblical truth and biblical ideals fall apart because we have refused to stand for those truths.

It is almost July 4th, so here in the United States that means we're about to celebrate Independence Day. For almost 250 years now, that has always included the words "God Bless America!" I saw those words on a church sign on my way to work this morning, and I have to tell you that I immediately found myself shaking my head.

It isn't that I don't want God's blessings. I fully believe that the wealth, prosperity, generosity, and peace that defined our nation for so long were results of God's blessing. Right now, though, our nation has no right to ask for His blessing.

 Instead, we should be falling flat on our faces before a holy and just God, begging for His forgiveness and mercy. We should be thanking Him for the blessings He has poured out on us despite all our failings, and we should be begging Him to show us how to turn back to His plan. We should be coming to God in humility, apologizing to Him for all the times we have failed to stand for Him, begging Him to give us the strength to stand for Him now.

And then, we should get up from the dust, wipe the tears off our faces, and get to work. We should stand up and speak up. We should be the salt and light we are called to be in a broken, dark, hopeless world.

"Elections are important, they have consequences. We need to participate, we need to be aware... all of those things. But at the end of the day, we've gotta stop waiting for the elections to fix us. If we will have a heart change, God will engage the elections. If we don't have a heart change, the deterioration will continue." ~Pastor Jackson

We may be too late to keep our nation from falling into the pit, but we are never too late to lead people down the narrow path that leads to eternal life.

For some final words of challenge, from the One we claim to follow:

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
and do not do what I say?"
(Luke 6:46)