I have always had a love for History and Government but I'm not the first to volunteer for a political debate. In fact, I loathe conflict.
But last night my heart broke for this country.
I thought for hours in the middle of the night about things that I could say to explain why, but it's so many things and I really have no idea what to say.
It's just heart-wrenching to see that more than half of our country is in favor of big government when I think back on how hard our founding fathers fought for our freedom. The very thing they gave up their lives for is no longer important to this nation.
Freedom is most certainly not free.
And rather than take responsibility for our foolish spending, rather than be willing to sacrifice for a season to get ourselves back on our feet, our sad nation would rather have the government rise up and "save" us with more government run programs, higher taxes, less people working, and more people becoming dependent rather independent.
I can see how that sounds great at first (sort of). But the sad truth is that it ends up being miserable in the end.
It's called socialism.
And if you've ever read a history book, socialism never wins. Instead it makes 95% of a nation poor, 5% rich, and completely wipes out the middle class.
It's heart breaking that the people of this once great nation are more concerned about legalizing gay-marriage, than they are about holding it's leadership up to the standards of godly character, honesty and truth. It's heart breaking that the majority have made it clear that in fact they do not even believe that there is any such thing as absolute truth... "Whatever works for you," are now the only words of "truth" that we can hold on to.
Yesterday was a monumental day in the history of this country. And as awful as it is, it's really not all that surprising. For indeed, history has also taught us that democratic societies rarely ever last for more than a few hundred years because people want to be "taken care of." It's human nature to be attracted to free healthcare, stimulus checks, and auto bailouts. But the problem with all these seemingly great perks, is that THEY ARE NOT FREE. In fact not only are they going to bankrupt us of our money, they are going to take away our very freedom to be free.
We need to take responsibility for our poor financial choices. And the only way we're going to get ourselves out of this is with a willingness to sacrifice.
And the unfortunate truth is that we live in a generation that is convinced that there is no such thing as living within our means. Our entire culture tells us that if we want something, we can just go out and get it. We borrow and borrow and borrow, until we are so far over our heads that we find ourselves bankrupt. And the saddest part about this completely selfish way of life, is that even when we've gathered all our "stuff" we still find our souls empty, broken, and without purpose.
Depression affected 75% LESS people during The Great Depression in the earlier part of this century, than it is affecting people now in our current state. People today have more possessions than ANY other generation in the history of planet earth, and we can very possibly be deemed to saddest, least content generation that has ever lived. That's so crazy! And yet we still vote for "stuff" over character, freedom, and responsibility.
I'm heart broken and I feel helpless in so many ways.
But today as I've tried to process this new reality, I have been thinking upon these wise words...
"There is unwavering peace today,
When an uncertain tomorrow,
Is trusted to an unchanging God."
This world can be quite the mess, and the mess can easily overwhelm.
But the Lord Jesus still sits sovereign on His throne, and that, despite ourselves, will never change. :)
PS A dear friend send me this link and I find it to be much more eloquent than the words on this little blog.
What Next?
"So, if your presidential candidate or your congressional candidates won yesterday, keep the celebration short. If they lost, don’t head for the hills. We’ve got work to do. As Chuck told us four years ago, this is a time for Christians to stay involved, to, as he said, “lead, encourage, and minister to a faltering country in a faltering economy.”
So by all means pray for the President and his administration. Pray for our nation. But most of all be salt and light in a culture, in a country, that is in danger of forgetting God."
I don't know how I forget so easily, but we have a great privilege to come together in prayer for our nation and for our leadership. :)
