If you’re like me, you
are probably pretty tired of all the political nonsense that permeates…well,
everything…right now. It is discouraging
when your “best” choice for a political leader is either Ahab or Jezebel, and
there is infighting amongst the people of God over these two disgusting
choices.
This article is not
directed towards politics; there are enough articles dedicated to that subject
(“…Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the
flesh” – Ecclesiastes 12:12), so there is no point to adding another to the
mix. Rather than discussing politics,
there are a few other concepts that we’ll look at that will, hopefully,
encourage the discouraged Christians of our nation.
Throughout this
election cycle and over the course of the last two presidential terms, many
Christians have mourned for times past when things were “better”. To some degree, this is understandable; over
the last 10 years or so, we have had the agendas of the gay rights, transgender
rights, Muslim rights, and the pro-choice movement shoved down our throats
without much of a respite. Too often, we
are tempted to say that we “have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts”
and that we alone are left (1 Kings 19:14).
Too often do we shut up our mouths as Christians and say that we “will
not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name” (Jeremiah 20:9). Too often we believe that times past were so
much better than they are now…but were they? Or do we have a misconstrued
remembrance of times past?
It is in human nature
to remember fondly the times that have gone before and forget the trials and
troubles faced by them. Solomon, in
Ecclesiastes 7:10, writes “Do not say, ‘Why were the former days better than
these?’ For you do not inquire wisely concerning this.” The indication is that the former days were
not really better than they are now.
While the aforementioned agendas may be prominent in our society today,
are they really any better than the agendas of the past? Even in America, there
have been some rather nasty agendas that have been put forth as acceptable; are
gay and transgender rights any more appalling than the concept of “free love”?
Unfortunately, too many Christians have bought into the concept of America
being a “Christian nation”; while there are many principles within our
Constitution based upon Biblical principles, we fool ourselves if we truly
think that we have ever been a Christian nation (this does not mean that we
have not been greatly blessed by God, but that is a topic for another
time).
Do we have it worse
than any other followers of God? In the days of Noah, only eight souls were
saved (Genesis 6:1-22). In the days of
Abraham and Lot, only Lot and his two daughters were saved from two wicked
cities (Genesis 19). Men and women like
Daniel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Esther lived among the most wicked of people and
in the most wicked of empires, and yet remained faithful. Manasseh, the king of a nation directly ruled
by God, “made his son pass through the fire, practiced soothsaying, used
witchcraft, and consulted spiritists and mediums” (2 Kings 21:6). John the Baptizer was beheaded by the king
(Matthew 14:1-12). Christians in the
first-century were murdered in the streets (Acts 7).
In 1 Corinthians 10:13,
the Apostle Paul writes that no “temptation has overtaken you except such as is
common to man”; while the specific application deals with temptation, there is
an underlying principle that we should consider: we do not have it worse than
anyone has ever had it! We often use phrases such as “you should walk a mile in
MY shoes”, which indicates that nobody has ever had it as hard as we have
it. In more general terms, Christians
tend to apply that to our society today, but without really thinking about what
Christians in the past had to endure.
While our society strongly advocates the murdering of children by means
of abortion, is it so much God’s people doing it (I’m sure there are
exceptions, but generally speaking)? In the days of Manasseh, it WAS God’s
chosen nation committing these atrocities! Remember the words of the Apostle
Peter, “Be saved from this perverse generation” (Acts 2:40); remember that his
audience in this instance was the crowd that had physically called for and
caused the crucifixion of Christ.
So where is the word of
encouragement in all of this? Providing all of these examples may sound a
little discouraging in and of themselves, but that depends upon
perspective. Consider the example of
Noah; in spite of all the wickedness that engulfed the world (“Then the Lord
saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of
the thoughts of his heard was only evil continually” – Genesis 6:5), God
recognized the righteousness of Noah and his family. The same is true of Esther, Joseph, Elijah,
Jeremiah, Lot, and the list goes on! Consider also the boldness of the
first-century Christians when they faced persecution; when beaten, the Apostles
“departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted
worthy to suffer shame for His name” (Acts 5:41). Were they dissuaded from preaching the gospel
in such turbulent times? Were they dissuaded from teaching truth when the
agenda of the Jews was set against them? Rather, we are told that “daily in the
temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as
the Christ” (Acts 5:42).
No matter who the
president is in our physical nation, and no matter what agendas are forced upon
the populace, our job as Christians remains exactly the same. Might our job be harder if laws are passed
forbidding the name of Jesus? Yes, our job might be harder, but no harder than
what the first-century Christians faced, or the idolatry and false prophets
faced by Jeremiah. We have forgotten
that our job is to work at changing individual hearts to God and not to
legislate morality; Josiah commanded that idols and the articles of idolatry be
destroyed in his day, and yet the hearts of the people remained idolatrous. Do we give up? Do we refuse to “speak anymore
in His name” (Jeremiah 20:9)? Or do we pick ourselves up, as Jeremiah did, and
press on? Jeremiah, after stating that he would no longer preach in “His name”,
said that “His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I
was wear of holding it back, and I could not” (Jeremiah 20:9).
Why worry about the
election? The world will never be perfect and the unrighteous will always have
the dominant control, so we should spend our time on making a true difference
in the world by working to change individual hearts. If our material possessions are taken from
us, then they are gone and yet our spiritual treasure persists; which matters
more (Matthew 6:19-21, 25-34)? No matter what happens, we need to get up and do
the work that God has set before us to do (1 Kings 19, Galatians 6:9, 2
Thessalonians 3:13).
“And let us not grow
weary while doing good, for in due seasons we shall reap if we do not lose
heart” (Galatians 6:9).
“Be still, and know
that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the
earth!” (Psalm 46:10)
