HOPE AMID HOPELESSNESS
By Phil Larson
“When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him” (Isaiah 59:19).
Prevalent in the US is an aversion to commitment and marriage. A good 50% and more of our children are born with no marriage intact. Consider that many who are living together never have children. We are a nation struggling with unrest and low commitment. A lack of giving value to family reflects a sort of hopelessness in our future orientation. The attitude of so many seems to be:
Today is all about today.
- What future?
- Why invest in the next generation?
- Everyone knows it’s all about me.
Yet, there are many who have a thirst and a heart for something different. A healthy 84% of those in their prime, early marriage years (18-34) are either married (28%) or want to be (56%). Please check out the Gallup Poll’s findings on this topic: http://www.gallup.com/poll/163802/marriage-importance-dropped.aspx
We want commitment. We want future generations. We just don’t seem to know how to get there.
Our legislatures are for the most part are wrapping their activity, budgets, and changes around social recommendations and tax work.
Personally, I am thankful for the work these legislative servants perform trying to make sense of it all in our mixed up nation. I think they want to bring communities into a productive and healthy stream.
Yet, every year seems to get a little nastier. Or does it only look that way from the outside?
Government was never meant in the Land of Freedom to control the minds of the masses but simply to mirror them. How do you like the image you see in the national mirror?
It isn’t pretty. There’s so much dissent.
Family matters. Yes, family builds the future. And, we need something different than our current experience.
Some two thousand years ago, an angel opened a discussion with a man named Zachariah. He said, “You will have a son. His name will be John, and he will work to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children” (Luke 1:17). About 400 years before John the Baptist’s birth, another prophet, Malachi, proclaimed that the same solution would be needed or the land of Israel would be cursed (Malachi 4:5).
These prophets had the mind of God, because Jesus chose and extended their focus, saying He came to show us the heavenly Father. Then, Jesus the Messiah, Himself being a prophet, began pointing to relationship not religion. The result was big trouble with the religious leaders of the day.
Religion is not an answer. Healthy and safe relationships in Christ are an answer.
Government is not an answer. Solid life foundations anchored in God are.
Demands for recognition and rights are not an answer. Generations of the greatness in the hearts of people established at the foot of Jesus’ cross is the answer.
I did not write this, Frank, to convince you of anything. I want you to think. I want you to examine. I want you to take action in your sphere of influence. I want you to double your efforts to help build a better world that is healthy and safe, and provide a healthy and safe environment in which children can grow into healthy and safe adults. Then, parents will be able to train their children how to live a better life going forward.
The power is in our hearts and minds, our hands and finances to change our future.
Frank, will you do it?
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