In many ways, the Church in America
has created its own problem. We have retreated into the safety and comfort of
our own little sub-culture. We’ve re-made the world in our image and have been
content to exist within this artificial reality while we pray for our Savior to
come back soon, judge this sinful world, and lead us into everlasting joy. The
problem with the Christian Subculture is that it isolates us from the world
we’re supposed to have a positive influence on. One by-product of the Christian
Subculture is the sense of antagonism it creates. The “Us vs Them” mentality
begins to dominate our thoughts from behind our wall of safety and comfort.
Keep in mind that most of this “comfort” and “safety” is made up of
materialistic goods and services, as if our descent into Christian Consumerism
would ever hope to change us, or the World around us in any way.
We’ve probably all had the opportunity
to hear this mentality verbalized as something like, “If only those sinners
would get saved, the world would be a much better place.”
You can substitute the word “sinner”
for anything such as “Homosexual”, “Liberal”, “Atheist”, “Agnostic”,
“Criminal”, etc. It really doesn’t matter what word you place in that sentence.
The heart of the matter is still the same. We, who call ourselves followers of
Jesus, tend to point the finger and shake our heads and blame the moral decay
of our nation on “Those People” who are not like us. The idea being that, if
there were more people in the world just like us, then everything would be
perfect...because of course, we are so much better than all of “Those People”
who are not good like we are. In 2 Chronicles, chapter 7, verse 14, we read a
most interesting idea set forth by God Himself. This passage is not uncommon
among those who call themselves followers of Jesus. We quote it now and again,
but I suspect we miss the real point that is being made more often than not.
God says, “If my people, who are
called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face, and turn
from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin
and heal their land.”
Did you see it? God speaks to those who are
“called by (His) name” and says that the healing of their land, their Nation,
is held back because of their own lack of humility, their own lack of prayer,
and their own unwillingness to seek His face. It’s amazing to me that God holds
His own people accountable for the healing of their land. What He says needs to
happen first is that we humble ourselves. That means we don’t use statements
like “If only those people would be more like us, everything would be
wonderful.” Humble people don’t talk like that, or think that way either. I
hate to break it to you, but God will not hold the Homosexual Agenda
accountable for the Spiritual health and direction of this nation. He will hold
you and I responsible.
Next, he calls us to pray, and I would
suggest that in this context what we need to pray for is our own hearts to be
changed and softened and melted. We need to humble ourselves first, and then
second we need to pray for forgiveness and repent of our pride. Remember, “God
opposes the proud, but gives Grace to the humble.” (Proverbs 3:34) I don’t know
about you, but I’d rather that God give me Grace than that He oppose me.
After we pray, God asks us to seek His
face. This means that we remain humble, we stay on our knees, and we submit
ourselves to Him and His perfect will for our lives.
Finally, God asks that those who are
called by His name “turn from their wicked ways”. This is sobering stuff. At
face value it would appear that it is our sin that is holding back the healing
of our nation, not the sin of “those
people”. If this is true, then we will have more to answer for than we have
expected when this life is over and our lives are laid open before God at the
Judgment Seat of Christ. Has our sin, our pride, our lack of humility or
submission to God prevented our nation from being blessed and healed and
restored? Simply put, this verse
suggests that we are the problem, not
“those people”. Repentance is not an option, then. It is a necessity. Not just
for our own salvation and spiritual health, but for the health of this nation.
Our insistence upon huddling together
against the big bad world has disqualified us from our calling to be salt and
light in the culture around us.
We have allowed our craving for safety
and comfort to lure us away from our calling as followers of Christ. We’ve
isolated ourselves from the world we were supposed to change.
Let the humility, the prayer, the
repentance, and the submission, begin. Time is short.
