An Angry World

 

Thursday, February 16, 2023

Why are the nations so angry?  Psalm 2:1

My mother was not a person prone to anger.  I can only recall seeing her lose it one time, when my dog ate the ingredients for a cake she was going to make for an upcoming birthday.  He only ate the sugar, frosting, and butter; he spread the flour all around the kitchen…every nook and cranny; it was the Pillsbury cloud! Come to think of it, that was also the time I heard the only cuss word ever to drop from her lips!  She chased my dog around the house with that big wooden spoon.  She never caught him…probably a good thing; if she had caught-up with the beast it might have completed the deadly sins triple-crown: anger, cussing, and murder!

The decades which followed World War II were, for me, was what it was like to live in Andy Griffith’s world, with Aunt Bea, Barney Fife, Gomer Pile, and Opie.  My summer days were spent exploring Miller’s woods, playing with frogs, and swimming at Stump Pond with the snapping turtles.  We rode bikes, and played “cowboys and Indians”.

That childhood is a fond memory, but it was not perfect.  We also had the threat of nuclear bombs dropping on us, drills in school; when that burst of bells rang, we all scrambled to see who could be first to get under our desks.  (To this day I still wonder who thought that up…a child’s wooden desk as protection from a nuclear blast?)

Interpersonal relationships were light years different than currently.  If a boy got a little flustered and dropped a “bad word” (anything stronger than darn), especially in front of a girl child or two, culture demanded an immediate apology.  Sex was only mentioned in school while dissecting frogs in Science class.  The internet of today may have developed its’ lightning-fast information-sharing from the way inappropriate behavior at school reached a child’s mother and dad before you got off the bus that afternoon.

As gentle and non-violent as my Mom was 99.99% of the days of her life, she would have stood out like a sore thumb in today’s culture.  Today’s foulness of language and angry in-your-face, stay-out-of-my-space, while I act out my sexual preferences for all the world to see on Instagram and Face Book, is the perfect medium for developing the attitude that, no suppressed wish to grab a gun and obliterate those who have angered you, will go unchecked.  The tantrum of an undeveloped sense of self-control is punctuated by the sound of semi-automatic gunfire.  And the weeping of Godly-grieving over this angry world is faintly heard from above.

For You Today  

Grieving the loss of what once was…even if that grief is somewhat biased by the rose-colored glasses of an old man’s memory of a so-called better day…is not to suggest we have nothing to which we can look forward.  Rather it just gives the appropriate frame for what God has promised.  To do that, let’s let apostle Paul have today’s last word, about the good that is coming, which will dispel the darkness of harsh times of anger in this world in which we live.  Paul writes to the Thessalonian believers:

…we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope.  For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God.  First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves.  Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words.  1 Thessalonians 4:13-17

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

Advice for the Mighty  and  Now Then, You Kings, Act Wisely  and  Short Fuse  and So Much Anger 

Images:  Title Pixabay.com   Images without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

Awaken, O Sleeper!

Monday, January 23, 2023

Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.  Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ.  He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.  Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you.  Such sins have no place among God’s people.  Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you.  Instead, let there be thankfulness to God.  You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God.  For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.  Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him.  Don’t participate in the things these people do.  For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord.  So live as people of light!  For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.  Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.  Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them.  It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret.  But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, for the light makes everything visible.  This is why it is said, “Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”  Ephesians 5:1-14

Some Biblical passages require zero commentary, except perhaps, an honest glimpse in the mirror.  The image of people sleeping in all the wrong places is a stark reminder that there is a time to sleep, and a time to wake-up.  We’re not talking about getting up to arrive at work on time, or get the kids off to school.  The “wokeness factor” is about how we approach life’s darker areas.

The apostle Paul reminds the believers at Ephesus that sexual sins (which is any sexual activity outside of marriage), obscenities (language, pornography, etc), and materialistic greed are what people do when they don’t have a clue about God. 

Disciples of Jesus don’t participate in the activities of darkness for two reasons:

1.    Sexual impurity obscene language and foolishness, as well as materialism, lead to the darkness of societal downward-spiral.  It’s destructive!

2.    Because a believer has received Christ, the light of God’s goodness dwells within any disciple of Jesus, and that darker side of life will diminish our view of that for which we were created and saved.

We have, as apostle Peter declared, been called out of the darkness to serve Christ:

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.  1 Peter 2:9

It is totally inconsistent to be a believer who proclaims the light of Christ from the shadows.  If there is any hope for this generation’s ability to witness of God’s saving and sanctifying grace, it will be for the church of Jesus Christ to walk in that light to which Jesus calls us.

For You Today  

There’s enough darkness…time to stop sleeping through life; believers wake-up, and walk in the light.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

Emptying the Church - Part 1  and  Drunkard Road

Images:  Title Pixabay.com   Images without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©