The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in 2:8,
"See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ."
We don't need a Creator who maintains the creation: we have a "global warming" movement that will keep the polar caps from melting, keep the polar bears safe, and an environmental movement to manage the spotted owls and protect the snail darters. We don't need a Creator who gives life and takes it: we have abortion and we will decide who lives and who dies. We don't need a Creator who designed us: we have an LGBT movement and we will decide if we are male or female or something else. We don't need a Creator who blesses a country with a prosperous bounty: we have "Progressive" elites who will manage our economy in their own image. We don't need a God to bow to or a God to protect us as a people: we'll manage our own affairs as a nation in a new "global community." We don't need a God to tell us how to live our lives: we have our own political correctness, our own "morality of diversity", our own ACLU driven agenda to keep God from the public square, our own race-baiters with their cottage industry to tell us how to live our lives. We don't need a God to provide for us, we have federal anti-poverty programs, we have SNAP (food stamps), we have Medicaid, we have welfare, we have a "safety net". We don't need a Creator to help us understand where we came from, where we are going, why we are here, how to find fulfillment in life: we have Darwin, we have Richard Dawkins, we have Stephen Hawking and we have pop culture.
It is my perspective that a person's politics are arrived at and driven by his spiritual condition, his spiritual instincts, not by his intellect. Never think for a moment that on a personal level, politics is ever severed from spirituality. Our personal politics emanate from our spiritual outlook. Political arousal in formative years springs not from intellectual arousal but spiritual arousal, whether godly or ungodly.
Nothing new here. We read about folks millenia ago who attempted to establish and define life on planet earth in rejection of God - an attempt at displacing God in favor of their own great ideas. So lofty was their fascination with themselves, they set about building a structure that would reach into heaven itself, an edifice that would reflect their status of godhood. Read about it in Genesis 11:1-9. Today, the building resumes. On every front we see the same kind of folks, folks belonging to various "interest groups", who really have nothing in common, and yet locking arms around a singular purpose: remove God, displace God, establish themselves as the masters of their own destiny and so demonstrate they are, in fact, their own god.
Paul tells us not to be taken "captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ." As believers we need to insure we are not sucked up into the very thing Paul warned us of. It will not do to be unfamiliar with the Scriptures, to be taken in by these kinds of things. As we read in Proverbs 14:15, "The simple believe anything, but the prudent give thought to their steps." And, as Paul says, "My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments." Colossians 2:2-4.
May we all reject what the world offers and grow into the maturity God intends for us, having our hearts and minds trained and shaped by the wisdom God provides. It is Jesus Christ who is the repository of all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Our focus needs to be on him. Again, as Paul says in Colossians 3:1-2, "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
No comments:
Post a Comment