As we head into the heat of summertime, it seems that tempers and relationships are heating us as well. The recent rioting has been particularly ugly and disheartening. Police officers have been killed and injured, struggling businesses have been looted and burned, and our nation’s capital has been wounded and perhaps permanently scarred.
Months of staying at home, elevated unemployment, and frustration brought on by COVID 19 provided dry tender that was then ignited by the cruel and senseless murder of George Floyd. Sadly, it has since been fueled by anarchists who care little about racial justice and simply want to steal, kill, and destroy. Their goal is to cripple or dismantle our great nation.
While mayors and governors struggle to regain control, my prayers are with them. As they do, I’d like to consider the factors that have led us to where we are and suggest a remedy to prevent a do over in the future.
First and foremost, America must reestablish our relationship with Almighty God. We cannot continually ignore Him and His ways and yet expect His continued blessings. Not only must our leaders acknowledge and seek His guidance, as some already do, but our citizens must turn to Him as well. Sadly, most Americans today do not even recognize our prosperity as God’s gift and grace since He has been expunged both from history and current discussions.
While others struggle to make sense of the madness, it makes perfect sense within a Biblical worldview. Because many of our people have rejected God, they have also discarded respect for other humans created in His image, including the unborn, blacks, whites, and anyone with opposing beliefs.
The Bible tells us that all of us descend from Adam and Eve regardless of skin color variations. Even science reinforces the common DNA that unites us as human beings. Evolution and supremacist’s philosophies have deceived many into viewing others as inferior to themselves. From there it is a short step to disrespecting them which then allows us to mistreat, rob, injure, or even kill them.
The adversarial nature of current politics and politicians of both parties has not helped the situation and combative media have also lobbed incendiary language into this tinderbox. After all, why should any of them lower the temperature when inflammatory statements and reporting generates votes and views?
When I was in Colorado last October, I was amazed at how quickly the temperature dropped at sunset. Almost immediately, it went from the 60s to the 20s. This reminded me how quickly our society turns cold and dark without the light of Jesus Christ. As His Lordship fades from our hearts, we are living the resulting plummet in national morality.
Although we often characterize angry outbursts and riots as heated, such hatred and animosity actually reveal the coldness of our human hearts and our need for His warming love and transformation.
We can teach kindness, respect, love, and character all we want, but without the regenerative power of God’s Holy Spirit within us, these are impossible to live out. Contrary to a recent columnist’s dream of a humanistic society gradually improving to utopia, our current scenario reveals the true nature of cold hearts without God.
Police officers, politicians, rioters, and the rest of us need to be reminded, or told the first time, that we will all stand before God to account for our actions. Even though we may evade justice here, there will be a payday someday.
This healthy reverence for God’s power to cast both soul and body into everlasting hell can and will cause us to turn from wickedness and seek Him. As we do, He enters our hearts and transforms our natures, empowering us to live and love like Jesus and shine light in our darkness and share warmth in the cold.
My prayer is that those who know Jesus will do just that in their everyday actions and that we will share Him with others that they too might be transformed. Government, education, and science are powerless to provide permanent rescue. Only God can deliver. Seek and share Him today.
In Jesus, George