Bleeding out.

Culture in America is on an inverted spiral out of control--devolution.  "Civil rights" have replaced "the moral imperative" as the final arbitrator in America.  We've come to embrace the idea it's (here's the irony)  "immoral" to deny the rights of individuals to act as they see fit as long as "no one is hurt in the process."  But this rubric fails to understand that morality isn't defined as just "the absence of a victim."  Debased behavior, wether it's Wall Street, Hollywood, Congress, Education, Church or at home diminishes the entire culture and has set in motion a "death-by-a-thousand-cuts" cultural bleed-out.

In the name of freedom we have acted in ways that have produced unintended consequences.  We have come to believe that because we have the protection under law to do something, produce something, say something--we can.  The problem is that liberty in that context is license--and license leads, inevitably, to lawlessness.  One of the most important lessons I learned at home was this; just because I CAN do something, doesn't not mean I SHOULD do it. 

If we as a culture, can get back to this simple lesson and apply it with consistency to the way we LIVE our lives, run our companies, invest our money, lead our homes, churches, communities and our nation, THEN I believe we will have taken a FIRST-STEP toward restoring sanity to our decision making process; toward rebuilding the ramparts that protect our culture from evil and devolution, toward certain destruction.

But mark this, healing our culture must ultimately address our spiritual need.  The Older Testament prophet Micah lived in a truly evil world.  The theme of his prophetic letter stresses the integral relationship between true spirituality and righteous conduct. Toward the end of his letter he turns to an axiomatic concern: Micah 6.6 "...with what shall I come to the Lord and bow myself before the God on high?"   In today's vernacular it might sound something like this..."What kind of life will reflect and infuse truth in a world whose reality is based solely on pragmatism and driven by relativism?"  He reveals that answer to us in chapter 6, verse 8... 

"He has showed you O man, what is good.  To act justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."   Micah 6.8

Friends, it's not a fiscal cliff we see looming on the horizon.  

bN tGit

That's enough!

Difficult days.  
News?
Too many dissonant voices.

His Grace. Redemption.
His promise.  Hope.

His character. Strength.

He is able.

I am His.

That's enough.

bN  tGit

If MY People

Many people of faith (I've taken my shots) are piling on this Administration, decrying its polices, arrogance and penchant for demagoguery.   

     

But, let's face the the hard truth: Government shares only part of the responsibilty for the troubled state of our Nation.  The failure of the Church to be the Church has accelerated our decline. The light from "The City set on a hill" cannot penetrate the darkness because The City too often has become an anemic, self-indulgent, impotent place--flirting with priorities, forms and dogma that have no genesis in God's Word.

     

The Church has embraced popular culture and been absorbed by a pursuit of a reworked (secularized), dumbed-down (sequestered) version of the "abundant" life; by a quest for "relevance" in the name of Christ.  She has a vital role in culture: to be the watcher on the wall, the harbinger of Good News, a conduit for God's love given without regard for conditions or behavioral change. Instead, she slumbers, points her finger at others and cries "foul."  The Church need not quest for relevance; when she behaves as The Church, she is relevant.  Instead...  

    

Apathy, division and moral compromise have ravaged the fruit of the Spirit.

Reaching out with the Good News has become an unfunded mandate.

Codependence has swallowed up courageous leadership.  

Sound teaching has been replaced by pop pyschology.

Relevance has pushed reality to the back of the bus. 

Sacrifice is considered a synonym for weakness. 

Integrity is open to interpretation.

Godliness just isn't hip.

         

This isn't the first time the people of God have lost their moral and spiritual compass... 

      

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land."   2 Chronicles 7.14   

      

It ended badly for Israel.  But, it need not end badly for this nation; there is hope.

Hope springs from humility.

Humility leads to repentance.

Repentance produces healing.

Humility, repentance, healing.  It all begins in the Church.

This, is change we can believe in.

bN tGit