4-22-24<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Billy Joe Shaver told the story of when he was in a crowd of people and someone sneezed, he said \u201cGod bless you.\u201d A number of folks turned their heads and gave him weird or angry looks. Remembering that he was in California, he quickly said, \u201cMay the god of your choice bless you!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A metaphor, of course, from that master singer-songwriter who came to Christ late in life but communicated truth, even when his adversities \u2013 whether self-induced or by the enemy of our souls \u2013 persisted. His testimony was strong in music and in words\u2026 and in humor, a legitimate weapon available to us as we share the Gospel. Another person who famously used humor to make points was Abraham Lincoln.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Professional scoffers hold Lincoln up as a skeptic or agnostic, but he merely was someone who did not attend church regularly. His words and actions \u2013 indeed, his life \u2013 was a testimony, however, to his Biblical knowledge. More, his growing spiritual wisdom. Further, his cleaving to the Savior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Month by month during his presidency, literally week by week until his martyr\u2019s death, Lincoln\u2019s conversations, letters, and speeches read like sermons as much as they were political views or policy statements. He shared testimonies about his own faith, and admonitions to his fellow citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of his most profound lessons was delivered not couched in humor as he masterfully and frequently did, but in a direct way. It was a point that transcended the anxiety and desires of people in the midst of a bloody war, although that was its context. We would do well to remember Lincoln\u2019s perspective every time we pray, or feel the need to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
M<\/em>y concern is not whether God is on our side. My greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This worldview is so comprehensive that I believe it could stand with the greatest of the Bible\u2019s proverbs or commandments; or the Lord\u2019s summation of the Gospel, or the Epistles\u2019 evangelistic messages. The inherent anomaly today in the application of Lincoln\u2019s aphorism \u201cseeking to be on the Lord\u2019s side\u201d is the very concept of seeking God\u2026 versus seeking after gods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How often does the current president, or, indeed, the larger cultural establishment, ever acknowledge \u201cseeking to be on the Lord\u2019s side\u201d? How often (as once was common) do the agencies of government refer to, or base policies on, Biblical standards? When \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d is stamped on coins and paper currency, and carved in stone on the Supreme Court building, and emblazoned over the Speaker\u2019s chair in the House of Representatives\u2026 why do court decisions deny and restrict Christians\u2019 rights? Why do bureaucratic edicts reverse the standards and traditions of a Christian culture? Why does the president co-opt the role of churches? Why are secular and blasphemous values given priority over the essential beliefs of people of faith?<\/p>\n\n\n\n It would be simpler (though by no means simple!) to address these challenges if this crisis were confined to the agencies of government. In that case, a simple revolution\u2026 a rise of the masses\u2026 perhaps riots in the streets and storming of courthouses and legislatures\u2026 would all make for a good beginning. Count me in. But it is not \u201csimple.\u201d Beyond government, it is the entertainment industry. It is the education establishment. It is the \u201cnews\u201d monopoly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But we cannot stop there in identifying the problem. Rather, we can start in the virtual streets just referred to; in the homes of our nation; sadly, in many of the churches themselves. And in individuals, neighbors, our selves? God forbid. But true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Never mind \u201cleaders\u201d who violate the essentials of their religions, or secular values in education, or in pop culture that traffics in pornography, violence, and abuse. A more dispositive manner of \u201ctaking the pulse\u201d of society\u2019s health and its spiritual essentials, is how often people react to problems by saying \u201cI\u2019ll send good thoughts\u2026\u201d or \u201cYou have my good wishes\u2026\u201d These casual phrases routinely are frank evidence of shallow hypocrisy. Empty words, usually: insults to the people being assuaged and to the God Who can otherwise be invoked. \u201cSending\u201d \u201cthoughts\u201d???<\/p>\n\n\n\n How much more is God\u2019s Name taken in vain than spoken in reverence on TV, or in conversations? How many times do pious people say \u201cI\u2019ll pray for you,\u201d but seldom do? How many people think they acknowledge the Lord by referring to Him as \u201cthe man upstairs\u201d? How honoring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n False beliefs, phony value systems, tepid expressions of faith risk yielding, at best, tepid answers to prayer. Should we expect a Holy and Sovereign God to look kindly on a people who embrace apostasy? Has God ever bent His will, changed His ways, to accommodate heresy? Is there an Expiration-Date on His precepts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n May the god of your choice, America, forgive your wicked ways. In the meantime, the God of the Bible, as Abraham Lincoln said, is always right. Let us be on His side\u2026 while there might still be time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n + + +<\/p>\n\n\n\n