| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “Christian community” Our Bible verse for today: “This disaster happened because the people of Israel sinned against the Lord their God …” 2 Kings 17:7 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Maybe it’s our own fault” I admit it, I am nostalgic for “the good old days”. I grew up in a “Leave it to Beaver” kind of neighborhood. It was very much an “Andy of Mayberry” world. Looking back, it seemed so simple and safe and innocent. We went to church, we pledged allegiance to the flag, we watched Saturday morning cartoons, and we played outside until the street lights came on. It was a different time, a different world. By comparison, today’s world seems like the stuff of bad science fiction. They actually have Drag Queen Story Time in kindergarten? And this is a good thing? We’re all supposed to pretend that a man wearing a wig and a dress is really a woman, and I’m being hateful if I point out that in reality, he’s actually a man? How did we get from Andy Griffith to RuPaul, and who’s fault is it? I find the editorial note in the introduction to the book of 2 Kings in the Experiencing God Study Bible to be both insightful and disturbing. The editors wrote, “The best of times became the worst of times. Why? How could Israel explain the radical change of fortunes? How could God’s people go from being the dominant nation on earth under Solomon to a vassal of Babylon with no land, no temple, no political structure, and no apparent hope? … Second Kings shows that God’s people have themselves to blame for judgment …” By the time the Biblical narrative brings us to the opening chapters of 2 Kings, Israel was a divided land – they had long since ceased to be a united people and they had spent decades fighting each other. As a society they also increasingly focused on material things instead of spiritual – the people who had been faithful to God had increasingly drifted further and further from God. And as all of this went on, their nation continued to fall apart until eventually, there no longer was a nation. The best of times became the worst of times, and it didn’t happen quickly. It was slow and progressive. But in time, the nation that was blessed by God found itself under the judgment of God, and it was their own fault. We Christians often complain about the sad condition of our nation today, but how much of it is our own fault? How responsible are we as a Christian community for the social and cultural condition of our society? Have we gotten increasingly lazy and ineffective about being on-mission with Jesus in our world? Have we become lax in our own standards of morality? Have we forfeited our influence in the world because we have become too much like the world? Maybe much of this is our own fault. We’ll think more about this tomorrow but for now, please pray that God’s people will stop being complicit and/or indifferent to the moral decay in our land. God bless, Pastor Jim (Join us at Oak Hill Baptist Church every Sunday at 10:00. Join us in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you are a shut-in, join us online at www.YouTube.com/oakhillbaptistcrossville) |
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