| Good Morning Everyone, Our theme for this month: “Resilience” Our Bible verse for today: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” Judges 17:6 (NKJV) Our thought for today: “We need the church to be the church” The Old Testament book of Judges is all about the break-down of society in ancient Israel. There was no effective government; the people of God had long-ceased to have any meaningful positive impact on their society; individuals had developed a fierce sense of independence and self-centeredness; and therefore, all throughout the twenty-one chapters of this sad history, we read that the people simply decided for themselves what they wanted to do and then they did that. “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” I believe our own nation could be trending towards a similar break-down in civil and social order. Across the political and social spectrum, from far-left to far-right and everything in-between, people are in angry and often violent disagreement, sometimes to the point of riots, destruction, and loss of life. Respect for civil authority is at an all-time low, and more and more often I’m hearing people from both of the extremes declare that they’re ready for more chaos and more mayhem if they don’t get their own way. What our nation needs today is the same as what ancient Israel needed in the days of the book of Judges – the church needs to rise up and be the church. I don’t mean that the church in our day needs to become more political, we already have too much of that, we already have too many Christians totally obsessed with political agendas (left and right). What I mean is that we need to keep political and social agendas in their place (second place, at best) and we need to put God’s agenda based upon Biblical principles in its proper place (first place). That’s why I have continued for a second month to write about the theme of resilience. Now more than ever our nation needs Christians to be at their best – living joyful, dynamic, thriving, and victorious lives that exalt Christ and bless people in the middle of all the political and social chaos. While there may be some value in trying to persuade others to agree with our political or social opinions, our time and energy would be much better spent sharing the Gospel and winning people to faith in Christ. As the people of God in our day, let’s commit ourselves first and foremost to being the church and doing what the church is supposed to do – sharing the Good News of the Gospel and serving a broken and bleeding nation in the name of Jesus. God Bless, Pastor Jim |
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