America - Where Are We Going?
Thank you to everyone who is praying and working and conversing together toward making our country a beautiful place!
It is and always has been a land of potential. We are still so new as a country, still learning who we are. This knowledge of ourselves – this attempt to know ourselves - comes with its own responsibilities.
I don’t need to tell you this. We all know it. And we are all scared stiff that our country will continue to plunge ever deeper into sin. There are so many sins in our society now, in our world, that it can be difficult to know which ones to fight.
But I want to challenge our thinking on this. It’s not about which sin to fight. It’s about fighting the mentality of sin.
It Will Stop… Right?
I used to think the downward slide could only go so far. As consumerism swept across the world in the nineties, as the Internet bloomed until pornography was a household issue in the 200’s, as the suicide rates sky-rocketed in the 2010’s, I thought, “This is only temporary. It can only go so far - before people realize that they are dying inside.”
But my thinking was fundamentally flawed. I didn’t understand that a natural by-product of sin is blindness. That the victims of sin literally cannot see their own misery.
I kept thinking someone else would see that the world was dying. As a child, I excused my youth; and as an adult, I excused my health. But there never was, and never is, an excuse large enough to justify not fighting.
We must keep the faith, and fight the good fight, whether it’s in our own hearts, our homes, or the world at large. This battle is my testing ground for heaven.
This is my life, and I only get one, so by God, I’m going to fight it well!
The Good Fight
We fight against abortion, and that’s amazing! But we need to go DEEPER. We need to fight against the mentality that marriage in this life is not fulfilling.
We fight for our churches to remain open, and that is a beautiful thing. But we have to go FURTHER. We have to begin worshiping and gathering together in our own homes, as did the early Christians, and like them, not give a damn for the bodily injury that may very well come from such a gathering.
We fight against pornography, and of course we should! But we need to see GRANDER. We need to glorify true femininity, in the person of Mary, and uphold womanly dignity in the woman in our lives, honoring them as the precious stones that God created.
It’s about our belief. Do we believe that life is a precious gift? Do we believe that we can build a beautiful world? Do we believe in our own dignity?
But it’s not about the darkness. It’s about the light. If we fundamentally do not believe that this life is fulfilling, then how can we defend it? This is why abortion exists – because we do not believe that life is a gift. Because we don’t believe that life can be beautiful. Because we do not see the everyday dignity of the human person. Do you believe - in your heart of hearts - that life is worth living? This is the mentality that we have to change.
Because it’s not about bodily well-being – that is not the ultimate goal of our life. It’s about faith. It’s about community. It’s about other people. It’s about showing love in even in the darkest and scariest of times. And we can’t learn to show love unless we are amongst other people. That is why we have been built for community. It is why the Lord created us. “It is not good for man to be alone.” We are created to show forth God’s love in this world so that we can be with Him forever in heaven. This is where the fulfillment of life comes into play.
Only 244 Years
Who are we? And who will we be? Our founding fathers built a land that they saw lasting for thousands of years. We have barely lasted 244.
And so I challenge you, at this tipping point in our future, to ask yourself if you are waiting for somebody else to step up and fight the fight for you. What do you believe? What will you fight for? Are you selecting one external sin out of the thousands that torment our world, or are you looking for goodness in your own heart, and the heart of your neighbor? I want to find goodness. In you. In me. And in the Lord.
We have a beautiful, beautiful country. Full of prairies, mountains, waterfalls, and caves… It is full of people – beautiful people! It is more than a virus. It is more than a president. And I do truly believe it is worth living in. I believe that family is worth having. And I believe that life is worth preserving. But most of all, I believe that faith is worth celebrating!
Love God, love your neighbor, and fight the fight.
This is my mantra. What is yours?