Our Lord Jesus Christ put us here in the times in which we live. The times serve as our crucible. The comfort is knowing that the Sovereign Lord of the universe not only knew it but He engineered it! And it is to serve as a testing of our souls.
Yes, I've made the rounds. I tend to visit conservative news sites such as FoxNews and WorldNetDaily. And it's easy to get rattled. Not just over all the deception going on in the political realm but over the totality of everything that is happening these days. And it's even worse if you visit the poll threads and forums.
People are panicking out there. And even worse, it is so easy for so many of us who know Christ to get sidetracked by the "non-issue issues" of this world. We make it all about being in control. "We have to do what we can to change this or that". No, God hasn't called us to "do what we can" to "change this or that". He has called us to repentance, trust and obedience. Not blind efforts to preserve a decaying earthly system.
And, if you haven't noticed, it is decaying. And I'm not talking about the 2008 election although that is part of it. Natural disasters are up. Man abuses his neighbor all the more. Corruption. Greed that brings massive financial downfall. Things are most definitely winding down.
And you know what? Save some miraculous work of the Spirit of God to bring repentance and brokenness to our society, it's only going to get worse. Guaranteed. 2 Timothy 3:13 tells us that "...evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." James declares in chapter 4:
" 1What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?
2You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.
3You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
4You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."
This is nothing we can manufacture. It is nothing that any politician can bring. FEMA can't fix it. Economic redistribution won't faze it in the slightest. Only the Spirit of the Living God.We must remember that the problems we face are, at their core, spiritual. And a spiritual problem calls for a spiritual solution.
As Paul told Timothy, God has not given us a Spirit of fear but one of power, love and a sound mind. And God has given us "all things pertaining to life and Godliness"!
The waves are huge out there. But we who know the Lord are in the boat. How many times have we read that story of our Lord calming the waves and thought "You guys! Hey! Why are you so worried?"
So, why do we worry? We have the same Lord and Master. The one who "holds all things together by the word of His power." And He doesn't worry. So why should we?
Listen. I'm not saying anything to you, dear reader, that I haven't had to preach to myself. I think we all deal with it from time to time. And I think it's part of the reason why Hebrews tells us to not forsake assembling together but rather to do so even more so now because "the day is approaching". These are perilous times.
Our first priority? To love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves. How does that work out? By prioritizing what matters. Keeping our eyes on what God is doing, not the Devil. And reaching out to the lost with the Gospel.
And in that we should find our sufficiency.
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