SCRIPTURE: Romans 10:13
(NIV)
"Everyone who
calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
STORY:
William Tyndale in the earliest English version of the New
Testament uniformly translated the Greek word soteria, “salvation,” as “health.”
OBSERVATION:
We are sick people living in a sick world. Don’t believe me?
Just read the papers. Turn on the TV. Walk the mall and listen. We are not
healthy – mentally, emotionally, psychologically or in any other way.
We blame. Find fault. We are critical of each other. We
believe whatever is emailed to us. We buy into the urban legends. We try to
build ourselves up by tearing down others. Our desire to be correct … on the
winning side … is so strong that we want to believe that our political party
can solve all of life’s issues. Maybe we shouldn’t but we do.
Oh, we call on the name of the Lord. Oh, we will share with
the world that we are saved. And while we are at it, we promote not our
relationship with Christ, but our country as if we have a God-given mandate to
be the saviors of the world. Well, folks, there is only one Savior and he is
Jesus Christ.
The reality is that we have tried to do it in every other
way but his. Most of us do not even read the instruction book about how we are
to live. Or, we read it, relegate it to Sunday observances only and pick up OUR
AGENDA on Monday morning. This is strange for people who have been saved,
brought to good health, by the Lord. Why would we turn our backs on the Savior
and the very thing that brought us health in trying to correct the course of
our nation?
The Democrats and the Republicans won’t do it … can’t do it
… are unable to do it … and yet, every four years we go through the same
process. And in the process of trying to bring salvation to our land, we
attempt to build up our candidate by tearing down the other.
God wants to be King of the nation. The Israelites asked for
and demanded an earthly king … and look what their earthly king brought them.
How long, O Lord, how long will we continue to try to solve it on our own? How
long will we continue to play our silly games of politics and believe that we
are “doing” the Christian thing? How long, O Lord, how long?
Maybe someday we will actually try to do it your way, but it
doesn’t look like that has arrived. Do we have to be taken into bondage before
we listen? Do we have to be destroyed before we are built up? Do we have to be
conquered and live in exile before we turn our hearts back to you? I hope not,
but it doesn’t look good for the near future … regardless which side wins in
November. Save us from ourselves and our foolish ways.
PRAYER:
Save us from our foolishness. Wake us up to your reality.
Grant us health in every aspect of our living so that we can truly be your
servants.
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