We can be better than this....

                                                                       As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
                                                               Romans 3:10 (KJV)
                                 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
                                                                 Romans 3:23
 
     These verses have been swirling in my mind during the past week and the course of recent events in our country.  I can’t possibly tell you how heartbroken I am as the country continues to tear one another apart over a difference of opinions and beliefs. 
     There are numerous concerns for our country during this year 2020.  I’m growing tired and weary as persons destroy property, scream, and yell using scare tactics to attain their end goal, while many of us wonder what exactly is their end goal? 
     Wasn’t our country built on democracy and freedom to choose?  Yet when approximately 2,000 individuals left the Republican National Convention in Washington D.C., they were met with angry opposition screaming and yelling to the point of needing police protection!  Again, regardless of who you want as the next President of the United States, don’t people have the right to attend a gathering to hear a speech of acceptance and not be in fear they won’t make it to their cars before they are beaten??
     Or should media make a spectacle how many individuals did not don masks in one venue when it is clear that many venues have numerous individuals without those masks?  Does one group spread this disease more readily than another due to where you stand politically?
     Why didn’t the news media put front and center 39 children being rescued from sex trafficking? Can you imagine the celebration of those families as they were reunited with their children and the feel-good story that would have resulted?    Instead we learn that the First Lady wore a green dress that acted as a screen where messages could be written.  Oh the liberties that were taken to place nasty, though many thought were hilarious writings, on her attire.  The First Lady of the United States became a laughing stock…at least to those who oppose her husband.  That’s what we’ve gotten to in this country?  I don’t care who you like or distain, that was incredibly mean spirited.
     And let’s not forget the couple who, because they were supporters of the President, has gained national coverage due to their sinful actions.  This situation alone brought the scriptures printed above to my mind each and every day.  I’ve often taught that we are living in carnal, sinful bodies.  Sin entered this world when Eve took that nice big bite of the apple and Adam followed her lead.  As flawed humans, sin lays right underneath our skin.  It can happen to anyone at any time and no sin is beyond its reach.  Believers in Jesus Christ need to go before the foot of the throne in prayer each day asking the Holy Spirit of God, which came to dwell within us upon our acceptance of Jesus, keep us from falling into the sin which so easily besets us.
     I hold close to my heart the words of Colossians 2:8, See to it that no one takes you captive with hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
     Can these words of scripture detain the ugliness of man’s thoughts and speech?  Not without a heart transplant that is enveloped by the Holy Spirit of God.  But this I do know, if you are faultless, if you have never committed an act which you would never want screamed from the mountaintops and brought into the living room of every person in the world, then pick up that stone and begin to throw.  Jesus said, “Let him without sin cast the first stone,” when a woman caught in adultery was brought before him for judgement.  Thus, I hold to my beliefs and openly share my story of salvation.  But I am not sin free.  I won’t be sin free until the Lord Jesus calls me home.  Keeping myself accountable before God is a full-time prayer event.  I refuse to take valuable minutes of my day yelling and screaming at others when that behavior presents a non-ending cycle.
     It’s time the stones of hatred, mean spiritedness, destruction of property, livelihoods and reputations are dropped from our hands and instead we drop to our knees with hands uplifted asking Almighty God to forgive us and to heal our land.  We’ll only succeed in winning souls to Jesus Christ if we become stellar examples of His love.  It matters not your background, your skin color, your political standing, or your religious upbringing because when it comes right down to it,
                                                     there is none righteous, no, not one.
 
                                                    The blood of Jesus is the only answer.
 
 

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