“The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.  All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” Psalm 14:2,3

In a long list of things that we all see wrong with the world around us, there is something else we must begin with that is at the root of the problem.  In watching the slow and morbid destruction of our society as it seems to take hit after hit, I find myself almost flinching at the sudden sounds in my own home.  A sort of constant anxiety fills me, a need to look at my phone, see the news, checking emails and status updates on various social media websites envelopes me.  I sit and watch fingers being constantly pointed at political parties and figureheads, churches, family members, this group or that…whatever its name is, it can be blamed, scorned, and ridiculed for anything and everything wrong with our society.  But who is to blame when everyone is guilty? Who do we point our fingers at when it’s OUR families that are falling apart, when it’s OUR communities that are in disarray, and when it is OUR churches being flipped upside down? Especially when it seems like the lives of we Christians are almost identical to those of the world around us.  When we were supposed to be salt and light, we were too busy chasing the sweet honey we thought was life…only to wake up with a migraine and a bellyache and to find ourselves even hungrier than before.  And in these days of Covid, it appears that we Christians in America, as the saying goes, “have been weighed, measured, and been found wanting.”

Simply put…we suck! We have forgotten our first love who died for us.  We have access to the Creator of heaven and earth, to the seat of his throne, and yet we do not go there.  What has happened to our homes, families, churches, communities, and nation is that we, the dearly beloved church of Christ, has by and large fallen asleep and drifted away from our Heavenly Father.  We who were supposed to be indwelt with the Holy Spirit, saved for good works, have been in a coma for a generation (or more)!  And we are waking up from this self-induced coma, blaming everything and everyone for what is going on around us…and yet, it was we who were at the helm.  It was we who have been in the driver’s seat.  And it was we who shrugged our shoulders and have gone after our many gods. Families don’t work, play, or worship together.  Churches are dying and closing up shop. Our education institutions, from elementary school through college are teaching depraved and wicked ideologies.  And our governing authorities are passing ridiculous, unconstitutional, and above all, blatantly immoral laws which simultaneously are being praised by highly influential people from all walks of life.  It would seem as though we didn’t wake up to reality, but to a living hell we’d like to think is a nightmare.  But please, allow me to fill you in. You are not dreaming.  This is the real world.  This is us, in the here and now.  This is the world we are leaving to our children and our children’s children!

So what do we do in these perilous times?  Simple, we fall on our knees and repent.  We pray to God our Father that He would forgive sinners like us.  We confess, and we pray like our lives depended on it! We cry, beg, and plead with Him.  We sincerely humble ourselves before Him with a drive that equals nothing else in our lives. Then do it again and again until He gives us a peace beyond understanding.  And finally, we strive to make His ways our ways. This is how we get right with Jesus, and it begins by us giving everything we have, our wants, our desires, our will, and putting it all at His feet.  It is only then that we will be able to be successful in the great fight that is our purpose in this life.  To realize that we are a part of the problem and then to get right with Jesus is the first step in How We Fight.

“You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:5

“Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain…” Psalm 127:1