Looking Out for Our Country

“I’ve been lookin’ for love in all the wrong places.” That was a line from a country song popular when I was much younger. I related to it very well at the time, as I often went looking for relationships to satisfy my soul, especially before I entered into a real relationship with the Lover of my soul, Jesus Christ. I also frequently went looking for help, for direction, and for answers in all the wrong places, too. Can you relate?

Today I was struck in the Bible by the examples I happened across about people “looking”. Take Lamentations 4 for example. Jeremiah, the presumed author, grieved over the state of Jerusalem. He wept because the people had rejected the God who made them, loved them, and blessed them. And being a prophet, He could see and foresee God’s wrath upon them. Jeremiah sung a song of sadness over the state of God’s chosen people.

Enter in the concept of “looking”. Lamentations 4:17 says, “Yet our eyes failed; looking for help was useless, in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.” The people were looking for help, but their looking was useless. Why? I see two reasons. One, they were looking to the wrong source. They were looking to other people for help rather than to God. God had proven repeatedly to be their great Helper, even as He directed them to help themselves by leading them to take actions that would benefit them. But, they were not looking to Him for their salvation; instead they were looking to man for their direction, their protection, and even their inspiration.

Two, they were looking rather than doing. Consider Mark 3:1-5. Jesus enters a synagogue in the presence of Pharisees, and in the presence of a man with a withered hand. Verse two tells us the Pharisees were “watching Him” to see if Jesus would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him of breaking the law. When Jesus asked them whether one should do good or harm on the Sabbath, they simply “kept silent.” They were likely stumped with no good answer. What did Jesus do? He looked around with anger and grief over their hardness of heart. And He healed. The Pharisees looked on with criticism and did nothing. Jesus looked on with a broken heart and took action.

This concept of looking got me to thinking about the state of America today. We are in the midst of an extremely important presidential election. Perhaps it will prove to be the most historic election since our country’s beginning. How will we respond? Will we be like the people of Jerusalem, who looked for help in all the wrong places? That, according to Lamentations, is useless. Will we be like the Pharisees, who simply watch with a critical heart to see what will happen? That, according to Mark, grieves God. Or will we be like Jesus and look at our situation with a heart after God’s own heart, breaking in sadness over the state of His people today, and DO something?

Be warned. In Lamentations 4:12, Jeremiah described the condition of Jerusalem - the capital of Israel, the “city of God” - in this way: “The kings of the earth did not believe, nor did any of the inhabitants of the world, that the adversary and the enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem.” Now, in place of the word Jerusalem, substitute America or Washington D.C. in this verse and see what you get. In verses 13-14, Jeremiah sheds light on why they were in this situation – “Because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests….They wandered, blind, in the streets.” The prophets and priests had sinned so badly, they were blinded to their own condition, wandering aimlessly and hopelessly in their own sins and leading others to do the same. The failures and inactions of the spiritual leaders left the nation looking in vain for help from someone else.

How will you choose to look on our situation today? Will you focus your time and eyes looking for a human’s inspiration and protection, or Heaven’s? Will you stand by watching to see what happens, or will you look up seeking to take appropriate actions? Will you sway others as you turn a blind eye to the obvious spiritual warfare at hand, or will you influence others for good as you openly turn your eyes to God and respond to His direction? America needs to turn their eyes and hearts to God. But much of America will follow the lead of others. She needs Christians to quit being passive and start being active in responding to the current crisis of our great country.

Today's Investments, Tomorrow's Income

Investments are a sore subject as of late. The market dropped again today, intensifying one of the worst financial crises in this country during my lifetime. I dare say there are no investments paying well today, that is, in the market. Last time I blogged, I mentioned the plausible payoff for choosing production over perfection. Choosing. This is the key word. In what do you choose to invest? Your answer to this question says much about the type of payoff you can expect.

Investing in perfect tasks may yield perfect products, but at what price? Investing in worldly gain may yield creature comfort, but at what earthly expense? On the other hand, investing in things that matter to our Father in heaven brings the greatest payoff, that of eternal rewards in heaven. And this payoff is worth any price. How can we know those things that matter to the Lord? This was the subject of my research that resulted in the Precious Stones Bible Study. God showed me that to love Him fully and actively means to love what He loves. For one, God loves people. How well do we invest in people, what type of return do we seek and for what reason?

It seems to me that oftentimes our investments in others may have selfish roots. Let’s consider parenting as an example. Parents invest in their children because they love them and want them to achieve to their potential. On the surface there is nothing wrong with this. Parents should want their children to succeed. But hopefully this desire for their children to achieve is for the glory of God and not for the glory of their children, or worse, the glory of their own achievement as parents.

Similarly, we invest in other people to develop friendships, hopefully for the purpose of glorifying God through the good that the relationship can bring, and not for selfish gain. It’s really either one or the other. There is an old saying, “You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours.” I guess if such mutual scratching is glorifying God, then there’s no problem. “Iron sharpens iron,” after all, and this process can bring glory to God. But most likely, we often operate with an unconscious mindset that if I’m not going to get anything, then I am certainly not going to give anything. It makes me wonder, “Is this what Jesus would do?”

Choices. They are a driving force in our lives. In my school where I served as principal, we used to say on the announcements daily, “The choices you make today shape your world tomorrow.” What choices are you making today? In what are you choosing to invest your time, your talents, your gifts, your emotions, your money, and your strength? Why are you choosing these investments? Is the final payoff you receive worth the price you pay? What might God say? There’s one way to know the answer – pray.