Excellent opinion piece, Brett. You are right - most of us have not been brave. At all.
Our sermon today will be on Psalm 146. Timely!
I don’t claim to know the mind of God or his purposes in all of this insanity going on around us, but it is ALL under his control. Truthfully, I am doubtful things will get better. Can God cause a “revival”? Of course He can. I only see it getting worse. So, what is my responsibility in all of this as a citizen of the United States and as a Christian? I can vote for conservative values… And I do. It’s almost impossible to have civil/productive conversations anymore, like you said, with people of opposing viewpoints. Social media has decimated actual dialogue that is helpful. But I guess my biggest take away from all of this is to continue to commit to impacting people in my immediate circle. Reach my unsaved friends, support our fellow Saints in my local church, support my son and daughter-in-law who are raising my three grandchildren in the faith, etc. So, I guess I have a small world picture instead of a big world picture…? Your involvement with XX XY is a great means to combat this particular issue and I greatly admire/fully support Jennifer’s vision.
I have a ton of thoughts swirling around in my head, but I won’t try to articulate more here! Thanks for making me think more about this.
Love these thoughts… Yeah, I think a lot of Christians are pondering their responsibility in this moment… And I think it looks different for everyone, but I love what you said here and how you’re focusing on your immediate circle that is really admirable and an excellent place to focus…
And I also hear you on the general view, which I know is based in your eschatological views… Which I believe we probably share the same ones… We’re certainly in a cycle of decline… Yet we see God use people even in the decline to bring more people into the ark … We’re all here for a reason in this exact moment. This actually excites me and I’m sure you as well!
This was excellent. I had been trying to write something similar for 3 weeks, and it just kept falling apart. Writers block galore! But I guess that’s because God knew you were writing an even better one!
The most tragic thing is to hear friends who are Christians rationalize and justify these activities: unconscious bias training, DEI initiatives, and deny the vaccine caused harm to people.
Your post reminds me of the Live Not by Lies essay by Solzhenitsyn where he discusses how citizens fear taking a political stand more than they do nuclear bomb.
But the more I think about it and read about the courage of the saints, like Maximilian Kolbe, is if we suffer well for our convictions. It’s amazing to read about how a person who bears their cross well, often times leads to a better world for everyone. Shouldn’t be surprising since this is the way that Jesus showed us the truth. When we look upon his Cross, we realize that to change the world we must take up our own.
Agree, Daniel. The good works we were created to walk in always involve faith & sacrifice. And indeed, they end up being for the glory of God first and foremost, of course, but in the process he uses these works to profoundly affect the world. Great hearing from you.
I also so relate to your saying how you write something and then sometimes never publish it. That is often the case for me. I have a lot of stacks half written laying around! I hope you’re doing well, brother.
Excellent exhortation! Having left a job, my home, family, and friends due to the woke virus, this hits home. The debate two nights ago was a perfect example of this issue. Numerous comments on X and other social media platforms commented on Biden's cognitive decline. This is irrelevant. His policies are unconstitutional and evil. That is the issue with Biden and his administration. We have to stand against the ideology that would bolster those policies and laws.
Thanks, Chris. And I know you can relate and can remember how we both came to Tennessee the same time for similar reasons. And absolutely agree with your assessment of that debate and the administration. All we saw was we already knew but the media pretended to not know which is the real story!
Excellent opinion piece, Brett. You are right - most of us have not been brave. At all.
Our sermon today will be on Psalm 146. Timely!
I don’t claim to know the mind of God or his purposes in all of this insanity going on around us, but it is ALL under his control. Truthfully, I am doubtful things will get better. Can God cause a “revival”? Of course He can. I only see it getting worse. So, what is my responsibility in all of this as a citizen of the United States and as a Christian? I can vote for conservative values… And I do. It’s almost impossible to have civil/productive conversations anymore, like you said, with people of opposing viewpoints. Social media has decimated actual dialogue that is helpful. But I guess my biggest take away from all of this is to continue to commit to impacting people in my immediate circle. Reach my unsaved friends, support our fellow Saints in my local church, support my son and daughter-in-law who are raising my three grandchildren in the faith, etc. So, I guess I have a small world picture instead of a big world picture…? Your involvement with XX XY is a great means to combat this particular issue and I greatly admire/fully support Jennifer’s vision.
I have a ton of thoughts swirling around in my head, but I won’t try to articulate more here! Thanks for making me think more about this.
Love these thoughts… Yeah, I think a lot of Christians are pondering their responsibility in this moment… And I think it looks different for everyone, but I love what you said here and how you’re focusing on your immediate circle that is really admirable and an excellent place to focus…
And I also hear you on the general view, which I know is based in your eschatological views… Which I believe we probably share the same ones… We’re certainly in a cycle of decline… Yet we see God use people even in the decline to bring more people into the ark … We’re all here for a reason in this exact moment. This actually excites me and I’m sure you as well!
This was excellent. I had been trying to write something similar for 3 weeks, and it just kept falling apart. Writers block galore! But I guess that’s because God knew you were writing an even better one!
The most tragic thing is to hear friends who are Christians rationalize and justify these activities: unconscious bias training, DEI initiatives, and deny the vaccine caused harm to people.
Your post reminds me of the Live Not by Lies essay by Solzhenitsyn where he discusses how citizens fear taking a political stand more than they do nuclear bomb.
But the more I think about it and read about the courage of the saints, like Maximilian Kolbe, is if we suffer well for our convictions. It’s amazing to read about how a person who bears their cross well, often times leads to a better world for everyone. Shouldn’t be surprising since this is the way that Jesus showed us the truth. When we look upon his Cross, we realize that to change the world we must take up our own.
God bless
Agree, Daniel. The good works we were created to walk in always involve faith & sacrifice. And indeed, they end up being for the glory of God first and foremost, of course, but in the process he uses these works to profoundly affect the world. Great hearing from you.
I also so relate to your saying how you write something and then sometimes never publish it. That is often the case for me. I have a lot of stacks half written laying around! I hope you’re doing well, brother.
Excellent exhortation! Having left a job, my home, family, and friends due to the woke virus, this hits home. The debate two nights ago was a perfect example of this issue. Numerous comments on X and other social media platforms commented on Biden's cognitive decline. This is irrelevant. His policies are unconstitutional and evil. That is the issue with Biden and his administration. We have to stand against the ideology that would bolster those policies and laws.
Thanks, Chris. And I know you can relate and can remember how we both came to Tennessee the same time for similar reasons. And absolutely agree with your assessment of that debate and the administration. All we saw was we already knew but the media pretended to not know which is the real story!