The Sky is Falling

Of course the sky is falling! It has been falling piece by piece ever since Adam and Eve ate what they weren't supposed to! But of course, that never really mattered to us until pieces started falling in our neck of the woods!

In case you haven't figured it out, this will be a small rant on America, the recent financial brouhaha, the morons on Capital Hill, and the UGA v. AL game. Ok well I'm not going to talk about the game....too painful!!

Without going into all the details, it is obvious that all is not well in the American economy. I realize that houses are being foreclosed on, some jobs are being lost, companies are being bought out and the price of gas continues to skyrocket (at least in places that are still able sell gas)! But seriously, let's not act all surprised. Houses are being foreclosed on because some idiots decided it was a good idea to give another idiot a loan for a house to a person who couldn't afford the house to begin with. Companies are being bought out because the idiot giving the loan now doesn't get his money back because the idiot who couldn't afford this house in the first place certainly can't afford it with a jacked-up interest rate. Gas prices continue to go up because we continue to use gas, driving anywhere and everywhere we please in our 10-to-the-gallon monster vehicles (yes I realize I drive a truck with a 350 V8).

All I'm saying is that this was completely bound to happen when we as Americans suffer from the debilitating diseases known as entitlement, materialism, and greed. We think we all deserve life's luxuries no matter how extravagant. We think we all deserve tons of stuff, no matter how insignificant. Meanwhile 2/3 of the world live on $2 a week, die from starvation and curable disease, and live in a 10' X 10' hut with 10 other families. I'm the first to say that America is a great country, I love my freedom, and I love my stuff. But we can't seriously continue to turn a blind eye to the rest of the world and indulge ourselves in our never-ending greed and think that everything will be perfectly fine.

So how do we react. We start pointing fingers, and then we beg the government to bail us out.....by raising our taxes. After all we deserve it! We're entitled not to suffer! Meanwhile to problem compounds until we are all left standing in bread lines blaming God for such terrible injustice!

I don't wish for America to plummet into utter oblivion! I don't like the thought that families will suffer because of this. I don't like the thought that our children's future is now being compromised. But we knew it was coming right? I'm not saying God is punishing us, but I do think He is right. If we were to compare biblical values, principles, and truth with America we would see great disparity...nay we would see that we are on polar opposite sides. And because of that God doesn't have to punish us. We are punishing ourselves, gorging ourselves on what we want with no price too great, all the while rejecting the very life that will fulfill us completely!

However, there is hope! I for one am confident that the sky will completely crumble on this world one day, America included! Yet, there is hope! Of course my hope doesn't rest in a governmental system or a $700 billion economic bail-out! It doesn't rest on how well I can pick myself up by my boot straps. It doesn't rest on the hope of a better tomorrow (perhaps there will be one, but I'm not inclined to say we deserve one). Our hope can only be in the fact that for those in Christ Jesus, this world is going to give way to another, one that is perfect, complete, whole, and without flaw. From the beginning of time, from the very first bite of the forbidden fruit, Jesus Christ was the only Hope of the world. He wasn't a part of the solution. He was and is THE ANSWER! And I don't mean that he will return your money to you 10 fold if you'll just tithe this coming Sunday. I don't mean that he will miraculously refinance your mortgage so that you can retain that over sized house. And I don't mean that he will continually replenish the gas inside your tank without you ever entering another gas station. I mean that he, through his grace and love shown completely by his death on the cross and his victory in his Resurrection will rescue us from the underlying cause of not only all of the world's pain, suffering, and injustice, but also from the eternal separation that we had from God because of our utter rebellion!

God is victorious over all through Christ Jesus and thus we can overcome! However, it requires complete rejection of the "American Way."

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

"For whoever wants to save his life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 16:25-26

1 comments:

The day is indeed coming when those who lay in the graves will awaken "some to everlasting life and some to everlasting damnation." We who are alive and remain...etc. etc.

AndnNo one can say when that day will come. We are simply told what to do in the meantime...make disciples! Not trust funds, not irresponsible purchases,but disciples! I have been very guilty at times of living only for the American Dream. May God change my heart.

Thank you, Matt, for this timely exhortation. That's Bible talk for "thanks for tellin' me to git right".

September 30, 2008 at 3:08 PM  

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