THE UNITED STATES HAS BEEN on a dangerous moral skid lately. The increase of dysfunctional families, violent crime, political corruption, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, racial hatred, rampant abortions, personal and public debt, failing education, sexually transmitted diseases, and unrestrained greed signal a nation about to crash.
Some think education or polities can solve the problem, but they don't. I submit to you that the real crisis of our time is spiritual. What afflicts us is a corruption of the heart and a turning away of the soul. Nothing has been more consequential than large segments of the American society privately turning away from God. And to turn things around there must be a wide-scale, personal spiritual renewal.
I believe that if every kid in every difficult neighborhood in America were in a church on weekends .... I really believe that the drug rate, the crime rate, the violence rate, the sense of self-destruction would go way down and the quality and character of this country would go way up?"
How ironic that while politicians from both ends of the spectrum are calling for spiritual renewal, many Christians are still looking for political solutions. Some are convinced that if we just get the right people into office or get the right laws passed, America will be spared.
The ultimate solution is not a coalition of Christians voting for the same people nor vocal opposition to a feminist conference nor a massive march on Washington expressing concerns. If America is going to recover, God's people must return to him. It's as simple-and as demanding as that.
The road to national recovery needs to begin with the church. Part of the problem in our world today is the church’s themselves. For example all church’s think all the other church’s have something missing. That confusing the world. Thinking my church is the only church that does things right. I know a church that if they didn’t have the Catholic church to run down they wouldn’t have message or even a reason to be. Church’s need to realized the other church down the street is not your enemy but people of the same Christian faith. It might help, If we could get ride of the denomination name tags that cause division, and work together instead of competing with each other we could change the world. If your church helped another church that would influence the un-church world. If the un-church world saw all of as Christians what great witness that would be. There are some who say they want unity, but what they really want is you to join them not unify with them. One more thing needs to be said, when you leave and go to other church stop running down the church and minister you just left. I believe the road to national recovery must start with churches.
Psalm 33:12-22 outlines God's prescription for national recovery:
"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance .... No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength .... But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.
"May your unfailing love rest upon us, 0 Lord, even as we put our hope in you.".
What Do You Think?
- What do you think are the most pressing problems in the nation today? What are the spiritual or religious aspects of these problems?
- How can Christians bring the power of faith into discussions about the nation's well-being?
- What are some areas of your own life that are spiritually weak? How can you allow for "revival" in your own life?
- What are some areas of spiritual strength in your life? How can you use those areas to help others around you know Christ better?
Pastor Paul Leavens - Minister - Christian Church in Lindsay