STAYING PUT

There is a growing chasm between people in our Country.  Maybe we see it more clearly this year, but historically it has always been!  There is a war between good and evil in the world.  In Genesis, before the twins were born to Rebekah, God knew that Jacob would be a good son and Esau would be evil.

A thought came to me upon arising this morning: The growing animosity between Christians and non-Christians calls for us to rise to the occasion.  We should pray for people.  We should not give up.  We should emulate Jesus:  "The Lord is ... long-suffering toward us, not purposing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)

What does that look like then?  It may or may not be a warm feeling.  “And as you desire that men should do to you, you do also to them likewise.” (Luke 6:31)

We are all different, unique people.  There are personalities we have trouble understanding or even liking.  But certainly love does not gossip, slander, or lie about our neighbor.  It does seek to understand and affirm what is good in them.  Love looks for God-given gifts, the abilities that contribute to the world.

The Guidelines from Jesus are simple: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  As I have loved you, you should also love one another.  By this all shall know that you are My disciples, if you have love toward one another.” (John 13:34,35)

We Believers in Jesus have the Helper, The Holy Spirit, with power to rise above the downward spiral.  If our fellow Americans choose to walk away from our Christian heritage, we have Power within to stay the course.

Our speckled past in America must be confessed, then forgiven.  We have Hope that is eternal: we have a message to give:  "Because if you confess the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses unto salvation.” (Rom 10:9, 10)

God was God from the beginning. With a downward spiral, (an attempt by "Progressives" to change, to alter how the world, especially Christians, understand Scripture) we still believe Scripture is "alive and powerful" and written by the Holy Spirit through holy men of God. "For prophecy was not borne at any time by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke being borne along by the Holy Spirit." (2 Peter 1:21)