It's His Love that saves

The challenging part to all of living life is in our response to difficulties.  Presently I want to address the issues in the media that are presented us.  Right, wrong or indifferent … whatever your opinion is, we as followers in Christ have to rise above.  I will agree with you that it is often more easily said than done and I most definitely don’t want to try to do the proverbial sweeping under the rug of the issues.  But followers of Christ, our response to injustice and wrong doing in society today has been anything but loving.  Rather than following Christ, we’ve taken the bait, we’ve gone into a world ill-equipped and improperly prepared because we’ve gone in our own strength, the sinful way in which we have dealt with our differences is crushing any opportunity at a peaceful future for our children.  

Christians, regardless of what facts you chose to follow (because we can skew the facts to fit any cause), must stand united, have to stand in love and do our battle there. We’ve been given our orders from our Commander in His operations order, the Bible, we have to pray for our spiritual and political leaders as well as our enemies.  The biggest threat to our nation isn’t ISIS, it isn’t homosexuality, it isn’t abortion … it’s our own selves because we are so busy standing against everything that the world doesn’t know what we stand for.  

Instead of us always telling someone they are in sin, (Here’s a hint … THEY ALREADY KNOW IT) we should be telling them of a Love that comes from the Father that will cast out every fear of walking away from sin into the arms of a Righteous God. 

Christ is the only remedy

Are you fed up? Are you tired yet? The television, internet, Facebook, etc. is full of mess, confusion, you’ve got those of the world and in the world all looking and sounding the same.  When the world has been screaming and crying out for a relief; looking for it from everywhere except the only place it can truly come from. 

The church has been silent.  The men and women of God who should have been praying for the nation and the things that we were warned about that not only were coming but are knocking on the front door … and the sound emanating so deafeningly from the church … CRICKETS!!!! Crickets; because the church has been trying to figure out how to get feet under the seat.  How many flavors of coffee can we serve, how can we draw the younger generation into the house, we need more smoke and lights, we need what the world has so we can bring the world to us and instead of influencing the world we’ve allowed the world to influence us.  And then we’ve got the nerve to ask why “salvation” doesn’t stick. 

We ask why people leave the church and the fact of the matter is they’ve already got what the world offers so why would they come to the church to get a watered down version of the world?  The church has lost its influence in the world and now the gospel has been watered down so much that the attempt to get back to the gospel has been lost; the church doesn’t realize its power in the Holy Spirit much less allow Holy Spirit into the church services or ministry at all.  And we find supposed ministers of the gospel giving feel good messages rather than His Truth which is the remedy for the problems in the world today.  So I ask you again; are you tired yet?

With everything that’s been going on in our world today, it has never been more ripe than right now … we are seeing before our very eyes John 4:35 “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.”  The world is ripe, the fields are white … it’s time to come out of our marble palaces and get to picking.

I’ve heard it said that folks should get past the sound bites and hashtags and get to the root of the issues.  That sounds great in never never land and once upon a time-ville.  It especially is easy for those to say when the sound bites aren’t a part of their directly impacted world.  For those with the sound bites, unfortunately it is the harsh reality of life for some folks.  Regardless of where you sit on the most recent media focus in the world, before we can get to the substance of the issues we must stop and listen to the sound bites. It doesn’t matter whether you agree with the sound bites or not, have you earned the right to speak to the root?  Even Jesus fed the five thousand before He was able to give them what they really needed; Truth.  

Then after hearing those sound bites, examine the fact, that as believers we know the truth of the matter is we live in a fallen world.  Because we live in a fallen world we must always, without fail, hold a Christ-like perspective and that perspective comes from the very essence of what Ephesians 6:12 tells us … and what it says is that no matter what the package is wrapped in, no matter what the package has within itself, that we as believers do not wrestle against flesh and blood.  

The only answer for us in this day is to put on the full armor of God so that we will have the Right Perspective.  We don’t have to dance with the rhetoric being force fed through the media.  The only side we should choose would be just like Joshua when confronted with the commander of the Lord’s Army … God is neither for one or the other.  He’s about His business.  We cannot approach or view any of it through our lens, the only view is through the scope of Christ. Outside of that, we will never get to the root which is sin and Christ is the only remedy.