Practice, Practice, Practice Courage

Christian Friend, do you Really love the LORD?

If a gun is put to your head by somebody telling you to denounce Christ Jesus, will you exercise courage to confess that you know and love Him?  How do you know you will?  

Have you been practicing courage even in the smaller things of life?

Did you ever raise your hand in school to openly challenge the atheistic evolutionist or philosopher?

Have you ever asked a co-worker to not profane the Lord's name?

Do you walk away from your friends as they enjoy a dirty joke?

Have you stood by yourself, holding a sign, on a public sidewalk in front of Planned Parenthood?

When was the last time you mentioned God within the first 10 minutes of a conversation with a complete stranger?

Do you know the feeling of your heart racing as you enter a store without wearing a mask?

Have you ever held the hand of an injured stranger and prayed aloud for them while waiting for the medical personnel to arrive?

When bullets are flying on the battlefield, we want soldiers there on our behalf who have previously practiced these scenarios.  We don't tell them to just take it easy at bootcamp and on the base. "You don't need to practice the live-fire drills;  we know you'll stand strong when it really matters," said no sergeant ever.

If you're going to be courageous when it really matters, you need to be practicing now.

Psalm 27:14 - "Wait on the LORD:  be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart:  wait, I say, on the LORD."

Outsmarting God

I know my own imperfect heart well enough to know that there have been times, when I have sinned against the Lord and have been expecting discipline from Him, that I try to manipulate that discipline (put a book in the seat of my pants, talk Him into taking fewer swats, color a picture for Him to put on the fridge before He finds out what I did).  --  As if I can outsmart God when He has determined to do what needs done.  My pastor points out that such an approach -- trying to "manage" God's judgment -- is likely what many conservatives are attempting to accomplish through their voting ....

"Whether we get Trump or Hillary, one thing is certain.  We deserve worse than that.  We have to take up our problem with God, because He is the one visiting this plague of an election on us.  And He is doing so for reasons that are righteous, holy and just.  We deserve the rulers we have gotten, are getting, and are going to get.  Wicked people get wicked options in their elections.  The problem is not the RNC, or the DNC, or whoever else we might want to blame.  We have met the enemy, as Pogo said, and he is us.

"If the hand of the Lord is upon us, the way out is repentance.  We cannot manage our way out.  We cannot do a little voting triage.  We cannot game the system.  What is happening is the judgment of God. And if God is judging a stiff-necked people, as He manifestly is, it is no solution to suggest that we try to dodge the flaming hailstones.  The way out is repentance.  And I don’t primarily mean repentance at the polling booth.  Right repentance will eventually show up at the polls, but I am talking about the country turning back to Jesus Christ through a great reformation and revival.  If you want anything else, you are desiring salvation without a Savior." - Douglas Wilson

(https://dougwils.com/s7-engaging-the-culture/dodging-flaming-hailstones.html)

This World Is Not My Home; I'm Just a-Shirking Through

When some mess in our nation or in the Christian church is motivating a discussion with opposing views, I will occasionally observe someone saying, "At the end of the day, this earth is not our final destination and these worldly matters are distracting us from our relationship with God."

If a personal relationship with God is all that matters, then why are we still here? Once that relationship has been established, why not just go immediately to be with Him?

Apparently, the One with Whom we are in relationship wants to see growth in that relationship via a life on this earth. Apparently, He wants us to honor Him by how we live here on this planet, by how we seek His face, by how we heed His Word, by how we engage with our neighbors, and by how we love those neighbors through our votes (or abstentions) in regard to policies (and politicians) that will certainly affect those neighbors.

Does God Care about Politics?

Is Jesus King of Nations? Or is He only King of individual hearts? Does God care about national and global politics?

"Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people." -- Proverbs 14:34

"The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will." -- Proverbs 21:1

"When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn." -- Proverbs 29:2

"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance." -- Proverbs 33:12

How long halt ye between two opinions?

What will Americans do when hit by a severe drought?  Cut themselves?  Shout louder?  I can see them doing that, crying out to Baal  --  I mean, the POTUS, the IRS, HUD, NSA, or whatever name he goes by now.  And it'll likely have a similar effect to that of some 28.5 centuries ago ...

Don't Vote the Lesser of 2 Evils

Our country is not in great shape right now; and, from what I hear, even more of our significant freedoms have been stripped away with the passing of the recent huge National Health Care bill. One of the factors that have brought us to this place is voting "the lesser of two evils." This is not just my opinion; please follow the logic.

When you vote "the lesser of two evils," you're already admitting that the one receiving your vote is evil. You're admitting that the candidate is not balanced (morally, politically, whatever). The candidate you did not vote for is far left of center. The candidate you did vote for is not nearly as far left of center, but he is still left of center. So even when the winning candidate is the one voted for by you and all the other "lesser-of-two-evils" voters, the center has just shifted. That lesser-of-two-evils position is now the new center.

So the next time you vote the lesser of two evils, you move the center a little more to the left again. You make small compromises.

"Take 3 baby steps toward the cliff."

"Mother, may I?"

"Yes, you may."

Just one baby step every 4 minutes (or every 4 years as the case may be) toward the cliff still gets you to the cliff. Perhaps it gets you there slower than taking giant leaps (by voting the greater of two evils), but you are still moving toward the cliff rather than away from the cliff.

Did you know ... about Thanksgiving?

Did you know that the joint committee of both Houses of Congress requested the President of the United States "to recommend to the people of the United States, a DAY of PUBLIC THANKSGIVING and PRAYER ..."?

Did you know that the accompanying proclamation stated "that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions"?

Yeah, really! No joke! Check it out!

Why I've "Thrown Away" Votes

If, within 8 seconds of someone giving you something, you turn and toss it into the wastebasket, what kind of message do you think that sends to the giver? Answer: That you didn't like it and you don't want it. That's the message I wish to send to the Republican party.

We who compromise our convictions on election day (because we don't want to throw away our vote) forfeit any just cause for criticism when the lesser-of-the-two-evil politicians follows suit.

When we think that the next 4 - 8 years are more important than the next 30 or the last 30, we are too short-sighted.

When we say that our elected officials are representatives "of the people," and when those representatives stink, what are we saying about ourselves? (At least in this, we -- and they -- speak the truth.)

My guess is that, of all of us who are self-proclaimed conservatives, there were more of you who will wish that certain third party or independent candidates could hold office but won't vote for them than there are of us who will wish it and declare those wishes by our vote. In such a case, which group is really letting the other down -- the compromising majority, or the conscientious minority?