PLUS

Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”

II Corinthians 3:17 “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

I Peter 3:15 “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear”

I Thessalonians 5:21 “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”

Proverbs 14:15 “The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.”

Maybe the most profound words crafted by the human mind and written by the human hand come from the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”  It is a sentence packed with meaning and purpose, with wisdom and brilliance, and with humility and subservience.  Interestingly, these words stemmed from an editing compromise by our founding fathers.

Thomas Jefferson’s original document started the sentence in the following way: “We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable …”.  Benjamin Franklin made the recommendation to merge “sacred and undeniable” into “self-evident” in part for literary flow.  It also appears that Franklin believed that this edit would better demonstrate the powerful balance between reason and religion.  This change didn’t detract from the core Christian ethos woven into our founding documents.  Instead, it enhanced it.  This is an important point that we should embrace as Christians today. 

Christian faithfulness is enhanced by the powerful balance of reason and religion.  The faithful do not check their minds at the church-house door.  Instead, as seekers of truth we are to appreciate the potency of God’s creative genius that gives us powerful brains and inquisitive spirits.  We are to marvel at the brilliant order of the universe while we embrace the opportunity to prove all things and answer all critics.  We are to supplement our walks of faith in Christ with the explanatory power of science and reason.  This mindset does not detract from a core Christian ethos that should be woven into our lives.  Instead it enhances it!

PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD DEMONSTRATE THE POWERFUL BALANCE BETWEEN REASON AND RELIGION IN OUR LIVES.  May we prove all things, and hold fast to that which is good.

For a few related thoughts, please see:

Prove All Things

Self Evident

ADMIN Note:  The historical background of the editing change in the Declaration of Independence came from “The American Story” by David Rubenstein.

John 14:1-7 “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.  In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.  And whiter I go ye know, and the way ye know.  Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.  If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.”

As we continue to gain traction in our lives in 2021, we must be constantly cognizant of the powerful truths of our potent Saviour.  The most transformative of these truths is contained in John 14:6: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

There is one way to salvation, and no way to get there except through the power of a Saviour.  Christ is that Saviour, and He is the way, the truth, and the life.  And in spite of the insecurity and doubt expressed by Thomas, we can know both the destination and the way because it has already been secured by the power and the presence of the Son of God Himself. 

Our hearts should not be troubled by the challenges that swirl around us in 2021 if we believe in God the Father and God the Son.  They have already paved the way for us by preparing a place in heaven for those who believe.  Christ came to be the way, the truth, and the life; and to show us the way, the truth, and the life.  By knowing the Father, we know the Son.  By knowing the Son, we know the Father.  By serving them and clinging to their truths, we enjoy both a temporal and an eternal security that cannot be matched by any earthly mechanism – not by a government, not by a vaccine, not by an investment plan, not by a boss, not by a country, not even by a friend, or a family, or a church.  Christ is the way, the only way, to purpose, to fulfillment, to joy, and to security. 

PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO SHED OUR TROUBLES BY THOROUGHLY TRUSTING IN CHRIST IN 2021.  He is the way, the truth and the life.  No man cometh unto the Father, but by Him.

Isaiah 35:6-7 “Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.  And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.”

I have spent big chunks of my adult life living in the desert.  These locations are hot, dry and dusty places.  Their rough and rugged nature makes them hostile to most life.  Only the most hearty of lifeforms can survive and thrive.  Yet, they are not completely barren because they do get some thirst-quenching rain throughout the year.  And when it comes, it is a glorious sight!

Lancaster, California sits in the midst of the Mojave Desert and is a place I lived three different times during my military career.  While dry and dusty, it does enjoy some rain – eight inches a year on average.  Even Baghdad, Iraq gets six inches of rain a year and Death Valley averages a bit over two inches of rain a year.  And when the rain comes in these desert locales, it is breathtaking.  Waters break out in the wilderness and streams emerge on the desert floor.  Even the parched ground of dry lakebeds fill with pools and the thirsty land springs of water.  A typically barren landscape teems with life. 

In many ways, it seems like modern day America is like a desert to the faithful follower of Christ.  It’s rough and rugged nature makes it hostile to us and our Bible-based beliefs.  Only the most hearty of Christians can survive and thrive.  Yet, it is not completely barren because we still enjoy the thirst-quenching rain of God’s Word, God’s Spirit, and God’s presence.  May this life-sustaining precipitation spring forth into a glorious revival in 2021.

PLEASE PRAY FOR THE RAINS OF REVIVAL IN AMERICA IN 2021!  When the revival rains fall in our desert locale, it will be a glorious sight.  Waters will break out in the wilderness and streams will emerge on the desert floor.  Even the most parched of ground will fill with pools and thirsty land will spring of water.  It will be breathtaking.  Our typically barren landscape will teem with life once again!

Acts 9:1-6 “And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.  And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutes thou me?  And he said, Who art thou, Lord?  And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.  And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?  And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.”

Acts 9:18-21 “And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.  And when he had received meat, he was strengthened.  Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus.  And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.  But all that heard him were amazed, and said; Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for the intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests?”

II Peter 1:2 “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord.”

Thomas Kuhn wrote “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” in 1962 as the seminal work on the power of paradigms – the overarching worldview and accumulated set of assumptions that guide our lives or a field of study.  According to Kuhn, “crises are a necessary precondition” for the questioning of a paradigm.  He contends that “failure of existing rules is the prelude to a search for new ones.”  And, when a crisis reveals the opportunity to question the prevailing paradigm, people “often speak of the ‘scales falling from the eyes’ or of the ‘lightning flash’ that ‘inundates’ a previously obscure puzzle, enabling its components to be seen in a new way that for the first time permits its solution.”  While this all sounds a bit academic and obscure, we have a perfect example of the entire process from God’s Word.

On the way to Damascus, Saul faced a crisis in his encounter with the Lord.  His previous paradigm included a pharisaical lifestyle and a determined persecution of Christians.  He was known for “breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord.”  As he grappled with his heavenly encounter and three subsequent days of blindness, the failure of his existing path became clear and a search for the truth stirred his heart.  In those few days, the scales fell from his eyes, both literally and figuratively, and he repented of his previous life and turned to follow Christ.  In those few days, he shifted from persecuting Christians to preaching the gospel of Christ.  He went from detaining disciples to defining discipleship.  He shifted from a life characterized by turmoil, violence, anxiety and divisiveness to one characterized by grace and peace, through the knowledge of God and of Jesus his new Lord.

PLEASE PRAY FOR GRACE AND PEACE IN AMERICA.  We are undoubtedly in the midst of a crisis in America.  Our land is characterized by turmoil, violence, anxiety and divisiveness.  Now is the time for us to turn away from our failing, prevailing secular paradigm and towards the God of our founding and the Lord of our saving.  May the scales fall from our eyes in the midst of our current crisis, and may it bring widespread grace and peace through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 

I Timothy 2:1-4 “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”

James 4:17 “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

At this point, we must all recognize that our nation is in a crisis and at a crossroads.  The events of this past week should shock and sadden all of us.  Yet, it is clear that the crisis didn’t start in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021 when a crowd of lawless and violent thugs stormed the Capitol and threatened the core of our democracy.  It didn’t start in the Summer of 2020 when crowds of lawless and violent thugs stormed cities and created urban wastelands around the nation.  It didn’t start on Election Day of 2020.  It didn’t start on Election Day 2016, or 2012, or 2008.  The root cause is far more insidious than that, and it has yielded a spiritual, moral, societal, political, and social crisis that must be addressed.

If you have demonized the other side, even in the midst of an emotion-fraught week, then you are part of the problem.  If you have lionized your side, then you are part of the problem.  If you have excessively trusted in a human leader on either side of the political spectrum, then you are part of the problem.  If you have expected salvation from a political party, a government institution, or an election, then you are part of the problem.  If you have put your full faith in a statehouse, a courthouse, or a churchhouse, then you are part of the problem.  If you have outsourced your critical thinking to a media outlet, then you are part of the problem.  If you have surrendered your common sense to social media feeds and blog posts, then you are part of the problem.  If you have failed to try to understand the mindset of those who think differently than you, then you are part of the problem

If you have failed to faithfully and fervently pray daily for our nation and our leaders, then you are part of the problem.

We are all part of the problem!

It has been said, that “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste.”  Now is the time to stop being part of the problem and become part of the solution.  Prayer for our nation, perspective regarding the mindset of others, and passion for national healing must top the list of our solution set.  And, we must not wait!

PLEASE PRAY FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!