Thursday, December 10, 2015
Watch Devotion VIDEO here
In
an interview last year theologian N.T. Wright was answering a question about
the issue of gay and lesbian rights. His
answer included a little history lesson he’d seen on TV the previous
night.
The question’s set-up said that
the government is on the (LGBTQ) side, and many people saying if you don’t
support it you’re on the wrong side of history.
The question: who said in 1956, ‘History is on our side
and we will bury you’?
Wright’s
comment was, one of the contestants got the answer right: It was Nikita Khrushchev.
When people claim, ‘We’re going with the flow of history,’ that’s just a
rhetorical smokescreen. So, that’s where I am.[2]
Increasingly
this year’s primary election season is getting more angry and ugly; that is, angrier
and uglier than usual. I’ve never been a
fan of political wrangling; I don’t see it as even marginally-interesting, much
less an art form.
But
this year is a special kind of ugly!
You
can turn on the news channels at any time of day or night, and the lead story
(if it’s not about mass-shootings) will be the newest most outlandish thing
Donald Trump said, and the backlash from the rest of twelve thousand other
candidates.
And
most of the vitriolic name-calling has Mr. Trump on one side, and everyone
else, including the so-called “objective” news anchors shouting back from the
other side.
And
I do mean shouting…all at the same time. One news show I watched had six political
analysts hollering at each other at 120 decibels, sounding like magpies over a
road kill. It hurts my head!
And
still, with all the “shock-and-awe” of political angry-and-ugly, Mr. Trump’s
candidacy grows in popularity and momentum.
One set of “reasoning” as to why his popularity grows is Mr. Trump resonates
with what the American (Republican-party) voters see as long-overdue pushback
against attacks on the Western way of life by Muslims.
For
many of the analysts the driving point is that Mr. Trump’s continued ramping-up
of the heat and anger in the free-for-all that is American contemporary
politics, is the kind of demagoguery that taps into the fear in people’s minds
created by the recent flurry of attacks.
Pushback is a powerful motivator, especially if someone else is willing
to be the one to do it for you.
Now,
this isn’t about Democrats and Republicans – it’s all about what’s in our
hearts and minds, and who (or WHO) we are willing to trust. Do we trust the political analysts, and go
with the flow of history….or do we trust God’s view?
When
Israel’s first king (Saul) messed up so badly that God sent the prophet Samuel
to pick a replacement, Samuel saw David’s brothers first. The first one he saw looked good to him and
he imagined he’d be a great head of state.
This was based on what he saw.
God saw
things differently:
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7(NLT)
Every
election is a spiritual referendum; there are great things at stake. Not the least of these is whether you will
listen to your head, heart or God’s revealed truth (His Word) as you enter the
voting booth.
As
followers of Jesus Christ none of us can afford to let “angry & ugly” carry
even a part of our day.
For You Today
Fear
in our hearts will sometimes yell so loudly we cannot hear anything God says;
take some time to get away from the yelling, fear and commotion. Let there be room for the still, small voice.
Chew on that out on the
Rocky Road today…and have a great day!
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