I hear a lot about how the nation is going down the drain and how it's falling apart and all this stuff. . . . And I believe it. I know that the US, on a whole, is degenerate, that we need godly men to step up and lead; that we're raising generations of couch-potatoes and mental midgets, that we need God's mercy if we're to continue.
But I think when we focus on that, our priorities are way off.
It's not that the nation is not worthy of our prayers, or that we shouldn't be seeking it's good - I believe we should. Just that it should not ever be coming FIRST in our hearts and minds. The US is not God's chosen people - the Church is. And the Church, on a whole, seems to be floundering to a terrible degree in certain areas.
I grew up in conservative Christendom. We sang hymns and wore long skirts or dresses to church. We didn't have an orchestra or especially a set of drums. And you know? That's all fine. My heart is not more prone to worship because I now go to a church that has drums and where there are multiple people up front with microphones, singing harmonies. The music is not sweeter; the form does not make it better (or worse).
My heart is heavy because I've been on both sides and I see where they can both learn from the other. Conservatives need to learn to stick to the Bible and stop making rules that aren't there; they need to learn when tradition is ONLY tradition and when it's actually based on the Bible. They need to understand that as so many worship songs seem repetitive and fluffy, there are quite a lot of hymns that are fluffy, too, and not all repetition is bad. (Psalm 136, anyone??) It's not old hymns or modern worship songs that are well-done or poorly written - it's just individual songs.
Liberals need to learn that there is SO much that they are tossing away under the guise of liberty. They need to learn that dressing up for church doesn't make you "holier than thou," that it's simply a national norm to dress up for something that important to you, to want to look nice when you're meeting someone you care about. Why isn't church worth getting up fifteen minutes earlier to ensure that you make it on time? Why isn't church important enough to you to wear nice clothes and make sure you get a good night's sleep on Saturday? They need to understand that weighty lyrics are not a burden, but a blessing. That getting to go to Church and hear two good messages in the same day is an extreme privilege, not tedious or an annoyance.
There is SO MUCH that each side has. Why, oh why, are we focusing on this silly, fading, temporary nation when the CHURCH, the Bride of Christ, is so divided and is MISSING so much? When one side is growing stagnant and the other side is giving up their heritage, like Esau selling his birthright?
If conservatives will not loose their grip on tradition in favor of the Bible, liberals will never give them an ear. If liberals don't learn to look beyond the attitude of license to the purpose behind it, conservatives will never believe they CAN hear.
2 comments:
Hmmm. This reminds me of something I have seen for several years among many good people we both know. Some emphasize that the only thing that really matters is preaching. Another, that if we don't have the freedom to preach it doesn't do any good to have preachers and finally another who said that if we do not emphasize the family unit and the responsibility of fathers that our churches and country will never change.
All are important. All need prayer and energy. All need people devoted to ministering in them. We need people in Government, and in the pulpit. We need people having family Bible studies and concentrating on the importance of building good Christian families. Some people see the church fragmented and falling apart, and others have a burden for our nation. Both are legitimate burdens, because as we know, we don't know God's will for anyone else's life. Certainly, your burden might be more for the church than the person who feels God is leading them to run for office.
The term liberal is far reaching. Generally speaking, many would not say you are in a liberal church. Maybe "more liberal" but not liberal. Liberal usually refers to unsaved "Christendom", even among the super-fundy types.
Lastly, let me just give a few ways that one could be "focusing" on the nation that are Biblical: hatred of sin and fear of judgment, love for the lost and a compassion for their souls, desiring of God's mercy and forgiveness. These things are things that are all good and yet can all be applied to the nation. These are the things I plan to write of when I begin writing my book next week.
My point was not that the nation is not important; my point was that if we can't work together as a CHURCH - as family - we won't be able to work together on any lesser levels.
There are things that are MORE important than other things. I certainly can't think of any place in the Bible that says that the nation is supposed to come before the Church. That's just not where the emphasis is. Sure, we should pray for our nation and seek it's good - but we're supposed to do that with individuals as well. The NATION is not special. The Church is.
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