The recent death of Justice Scalia proved several things. First, the 24/7 news cycle has become so thirsty for news that some people don't take time to honor the life of a man before discussing his replacement. Second, this election is vital, meaning we should be active. And, third, and most important, only God can truly solve our problems - meaning we must be on our knees figuratively speaking consistently. Repentance revival is possible, but we need God's help now. Our activity won't help alone because at its heart this is not a political problem facing our country.
The problem America faces is a heart problem. This makes it
spiritual and not physical - of course, I don't mean that America has a
physical heart condition.
Even though it can't be fixed by actual physical medicine, there is a solution, though. You can be part of it, in fact.
It may seem much harder, if not impossible, to solve suvh a
heart problem in others. However, it isn't as bad as it sounds. After I
expand upon how we know it's a heart problem, I'll provide the
solution.
How do we know it's a heart problem?
It is easy to identify a heart problem by what the Bible says about such times, andby the things that aren't working.
People of all political parties, of every political
persuasion, have ideas. To some extent, all have been tried, just not in
the most extreme way. At times it feels like we are just repeating the
same things over and over.
If there was a human solution, we would see improvement.
However, the example of political correctness is a perfect way to show
this is a heart problem. The proper words for things continue to change,
as people try to eliminate insulting comments and behavior. And yet,
such things continue.
However, if hearts changed, people would not mistreat
others no matter what word was used. There would be no hurtful comments,
so there would not be a need to create such societal rules.
I could cite many other examples. For instance, poverty
still exists long after the pledge to end it. And, if all guns
disappeared, people would make them and use knives and swords in the
meantime. Or, if everyone had equal things, some would still take
others' stuff out of a sense of entitlement.
Imperfect man cannot create a perfect system. It would be
like someone who does not know the first thing about piloting an
airplane trying to teach someone how to fly a major commercial jumbo jet
without the computers, and with just the instruments. Even if this
person knew something about flight, or even knew something about letting
the computer run things, they couldn't teach about all of the
instruments and everything that was needed unless they actually knew how
to do it.
This means that when laws have been written enforcing
really strict things like Prohibition, they haven't worked either
because it was still imperfect people trying to change the outside and
not change in the heart.
So, there is clearly a heart problem which no candidate will solve, no matter what party they are in.
However, there is a solution.
How do we solve it?
2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new."
We must repent, turning from our evil ways. However, we can't bring revival on our own because the heart of man is exceedingly wicked. We can only impact the outward appearance. And, that's not good enough for God.
In other words, just having all moral laws won't bring this nation back to God if we don' also trust Him to change our hearts. it would be just like Prohibition days.
In 2 Chronicles 7:14, God promises "If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and I will answer their prayer, and I will heal their land."
Notice what order these are in. first is humbling oneself in prayer. Second is seeking His face. Only then comes turning from wicked ways.
What are we praying for? For God's forgiveness and also His healing for our country, His changing of hearts. Our turning from our wicked ways is a sign to Him of our commitment to live by the principles of His Word - honesty, faithfulness, unconditional love, and so on. Accepting all as equal before the Cross and abandoning our racial animosity. Things like that.
Some will say this promise is only to Israel, but remember we have been grafted in, adopted by God into His family whereby we cry "Abba, Father." that "Abba" is a term of total trust and endearment, like a small child saying "Daddy."
But, even if that verse was only for Israel, it doesn't matter. God has another set of verses where He promises to heal even the heathen nations.
They are in Jeremiah 18:5-10. God promises to bless the heathen nation that turns from its evil ways.
Now, by making that commitment to follow Him, this is where we get involved. This is where we say, "Lord, we will follow the candidate You lay on our hearts.
But, before that, we must seek God to change not only our hearts, but those of others. Repentance begins in with the Church, but we also need God to move int he unsaved, too, so many people will come to know Him.
Since not many churches preach the Gospel anymore, that could mean lots of people going to the Internet with sites like Godlife, or a variety of places like Child Evangelism Fellowship. it could even mean that if you trust Him to, the Lord will lead you to people who are ready to be saved if you will just share with them the clear, simple, plan of salvation. They just need to see you are genuine and really are seeking to live for the Lord yourself. You don't have to be perfect, but we do need to be striving - as Paul said, pressing toward the mark of that high calling.(Phil.3:14)
So, in other words, turn our hearts toward the Lord and seek His forgiveness, seek Him to heal our nation and change hearts to turn back toward him, and then commit ourselves to Godly principles as a way of showing that we truly do want this nation to have His blessings.
Then He will hear from Heaven, answer our prayers, and heal our land.
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