I know that I said that the previous blog would be the last one that I would write about politics, but I just can't help it. BTW, when you read, chant, sing the poem previously, it is to be to the tune of "Yankee Doodle."
I have sort of resigned myself to the fact that we are going to be facing an Obama presidency. It doesn't look good in the polls, even North Carolina is slipping, and I am a whiz at protecting myself from disappointment by before hand thinking the worst. You can give me a lecture later why that outlook is not very Biblical, but for now just hear me out.
I have learned over my fifty years that good does come from adversity, that God is in control, and that He brings trials into our lives for a tremendous amount of good reasons, growing reasons, seasons of wilderness that strip us from our complacency, our self absorbed ways, and our dependency on ourselves and our idols. In my meditation of an Obama win, I can think of many different reasons for why God could be allowing that at just this time in our history. Christians in our country would love to depend on who is in the White House, how much we have in our 401k accounts, and the freedom that we enjoy daily and also take for granted daily. Tyranny has been the majority rule for all of history. Tyrants, not that I am calling Barak Obama a tyrant, are a dime a dozen, but freedom has been a rarity on the world's scene. God has called His people to live under both, but I am afraid that we, including myself, take freedom for granted and believe it will always continue. Freedom is no guarantee. With the world's markets reacting as they are, we are ripe for a tyrant or a group of tyrants to come in and save the day. We must be vigilant, watchful, and educating of the ones that do not understand. The natural bent as humans is said to be free, but if allowed to be taken care of, I am afraid we too often choose the easy way out, until, it is too late. Then we are not only taken care of we have lost all freedom to the one that wants the power.
What makes us lazy like this is the lack of self control that we have. We want things to make us happy and before long we are satiated with pleasure and no longer know how to discipline ourselves. I will give you an illustration. Karen, my seventeen year old, showed me on the Internet how Ford Motor Co. is coming out with a car next year that gives parents a way to control the speed that their children drive, the level at which their radio is turned up, and it sounds an alarm if their seat belt is not on. By the time your children and mine are old enough to operate a vehicle, they should have the inner self discipline to do the above behaviors on their own. If they do not they suffer the consequences of their actions. I can think of even more dire consequences for this kind of behavior control.
The stock market has taken a big dip lately as you all know. We are the richest country in the world when it comes to material possessions. Believe me I am a capitalist, and proud of it, but how many of us even in the Church trust in those material goods instead of our first Love, Christ Jesus? I know that in my own personal experience we have not had a salary for five and a half months now, and it has been good for my family. It has helped us see exactly what we are trusting in. We are far from destitute, and God is always faithful, ever faithful, but I have seen our savings wither away. At the end of all of this we may not have enough to retire on, but God will still be faithful, and more importantly we will know where our allegiance lies. Maybe I am not the only one that needs these lessons that God seems to be taking us collectively through. We need to be diligent, watchful, for Christ is all we need. Maybe if, and I say if, Obama gets in the White House, we (I mean me), will see in a greater way where my faith stands.
Thanking God ahead of time for His abundant providential care no matter what...........Lynn
I just got this in my email and it is exactly what I was trying to say, in some ways, but of course Chuck Colson can say it better.
1 comments:
No lecture here. I learned early on in my Christian walk to face trials by imagining, as best I could, the worst outcome I could think, and then asking myself if I could trust God in that. Once I prayerfully reach the conclusion, that, yes I can trust in the faithfulness of God even in that, I find myself comforted and able to go on with a measure of peace and joy.
And with the economy as it is, and the office of President up for grabs, I've found myself doing this more and more frequently.
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