After Postmodernism....Will an Angry and Disillusioned America Awaken or Implode?

“What comes after postmodernism?” a student asked today. 

Some have suggested “pseudo-modernism” which is all about experiencing pseudo-realities through virtual reality technology, reality TV, and rapidly expanding communication technologies.  Others have called the current pervasive philosophy “digi-modernism” which also points to the rapid advancements in technology and how it affects the way we live and think. Some would like to see a revived Renaissance period or "retro-ism".  Then there is the theory that since postmodernism is so self-referential it will continue to propel itself.  I don’t know what to call the current philosophy, but I can make plenty of observations.  Over the past 40 years, I have seen the REMOVAL of hope, dignity, basic morality, truth, critical thinking, tolerance for Christianity, kindness, love for others, and respect law and liberty.  Today, those admirable qualities which once defined America, are being REPLACED with mounting anger, hatred, division, tension, death, sexual perversion, cynicism, and disillusionment.  Instead of hoping for the best and looking for role models to emulate, American society seems to be lifting up the corrupt and wishing that the righteous would fall.

When Bill Clinton was convicted of lying under oath after committing adultery with his intern, he was not impeached.  As the nation's top leader who happened to be over twice her age, he should have been like a father figure to her instead of using her for his own selfish lusts, but the culture did not condemn his actions.  Instead, people felt better about their own shortcomings, dismissing his perjury and adultery because “he’s human like the rest of us” without expecting him to be a moral example for others.  Like it or not, young people did look to him as role model, and since his misconduct was not punished, they considered his behavior to be socially acceptable.  Many young people assumed oral sex did not count, when the truth is that fornication of any kind still does major long term emotional, physical, and relational damage - especially regarding future marriage relationships.  So, oral sexual activity among young people increased dramatically after his trial.

 

The UNC Chapel Hill athletic program is one among many elite athletic programs that has been charged with all sorts of cheating and lying through the offering of fake classes for top athletes who have no interest in studying. Yet, despite the clear violation of code, many Americans are apathetic over any violation of principle as long as they get to see their favorite athletes perform.  The legal process is only barely plodding along…possibly never coming to a conclusion with appropriate disciplinary action because a corrupt culture values collegiate sports more than ethics or justice.

Donald Trump, who made his millions through corrupt business deals, pornography, casinos, and media manipulation, is being lifted up as the top Republican presidential nominee (even though he never intended to actually become president; he has said that he only wanted to be a voice of protest and to curry more media attention....until prideful ambition took over) BECAUSE he is disrespectful, angry, violent, and crude, while Ted Cruz is scorned or mostly ignored because he has stood for Constitutional interpretation of the law and traditional family values.  Trump brags about his multiple acts of adultery and fornication, but no one condemns his behavior for the mental anguish, heartache, and untold trauma his selfish acts caused for all women and children involved.  It’s okay for him to cheat and to condemn others through his own words or by planting a fake story in a trashy magazine because he openly glories in his own sin, but he doesn't call it sin, for he doesn't believe anything he has done is a sin, so he must not believe in sin at all.  Whatever the case, Trump's lifestyle makes the average American seem wholesome, so few if any could possibly feel so morally corrupt in comparison to him.  Since he expresses the anger and frustration so many feel but are ashamed to admit, he is being fueled to the top by the fire of Americans' hatred.

Now both liberals and libertarians have expressed eager hope that the National Inquirer and Trump are right their accusations of Cruz committing adultery (which, given that large terrorist attacks are occurring every day around the world, while our POTUS attends baseball games with evil dictators and offers toasts to communism, is the last thing the media or any presidential hopeful should be discussing).  Instead of encouraging and believing in a national leader, they want to see him destroyed no matter how much pain it causes his loved ones.

Perhaps this culture doesn't want leaders or heroes because they don't want to believe heroes are possible.  "Surely they must all be hypocrites" is the assumption.  Certainly enough people have let us down to make us afraid to hope, but what is life without hope?  How can anyone aspire to moral betterment if the culture convinces them there is no hope, and that dreams are but fairy tales?  People rise to the expectations of others, so if the expectation is perversion and corruption, that is what we will produce in ourselves and in others. 

Maybe people just don't want to believe that they are accountable to a higher power who has established an unchanging universal moral code.  Those who stand for Constitutional law, truth, justice, and Judeo-Christian values seem most hated, not because they impose their beliefs on others because they technically can't and usually don't even try, but simply because of the fact that their lives are proof that is possible to live a joyful (not necessarily or ever easy, though), faith-filled, morally upright life.  No one is perfect, of course, but someone like Cruz who has entered the evil and highly corrupting Washington environment for a considerable period of time and actually did what he said he would do, without wavering in his convictions, is not allowed to make a single mistake without being completely ruined by the media and the culture, whereas the blatantly irreligious, like Hillary and Trump, are given all the free passes they will ever need because let's face it, almost everyone feels better about themselves when compared to either one of them.

Consider the change in how we treat community heroes. Police officers, fire fighters, military personnel, emergency response professionals, and others who put their lives at risk to protect civilians are heroes and should be respected as such.  Teachers sacrifice more of their heart, time, money, energy, and even family/friend relationships to serve others than most any other civil servant, yet instead of honoring them as heroes, our society places them under increasing demands and pressure for outcomes largely out of their control. Even make-believe superheroes are losing respect as evidenced by the most recent superhero movie in which the good guys, Batman and Superman, enter vicious battles against one other. At least that movie has a pseudo happy ending, whereas frustrated Americans continue to wage both passive and aggressive civil wars against each other and the nation's true heroes.  

I’d like to point out one fundamental problem shaping society’s deteriorating attitude toward disillusioned negativism.  Postmodernism taught that truth is relative, but what if there is absolute truth determining what is right or wrong?  Those who don't place themselves under the Lordship of Christ cannot be expected to behave like Christians, but if the universal moral law is set into every human heart, then basic principles of decency are expected, and as U.S. citizens, Americans are required to uphold the laws of the land, not redefine or reinterpret those with every whim or fad.   If a universal moral code is indeed etched into the heart and coded into the DNA of every human being as the Christian Bible suggests, then saying something isn’t wrong doesn’t make it right.  As an example, let's suppose a new movement spreads across America pushing for acceptance of pedophilia by using strategies similar to those that won the LGBT community favored status, special privileges, and the legalization of gay marriage.

No matter how much someone wants to believe that pedophilia is good and right or convince themselves that it is at least genetic and somehow acceptable....

No matter how many legal battles the ACLU wages to convince states to force every business to provide gender neutral restrooms (which would force people like me with tiny bladders to live as a hermit)...

No matter how many special privileges and tax credits pedophiles are provided through updated equal opportunity acts (if you consider how quickly special privileges were granted to LGBT groups and the suffering incurred by those like the florist and baker who exercised their Constitutional right not to serve same sex couple for the one occasion of their wedding when there were plenty of other equally acceptable service providers, you will not find such a claim far-fetched)...

And no matter how many laws are passed to protect that pedophile and producers of pedophilia media & materials, even to the point of making it illegal to speak out against pedophilia.....

PEDOPHILIA is still and will always be wrong.  No one can erase the damage such horrific acts do to the victims.  And no one but Jesus can remove the guilt stain that grips the perpetrator's heart deep down inside.

The culture seeks to silence those who warn of the dangers and destruction that inevitably result from various wrongful actions.  Even those who quietly live out their faith with integrity, serving the common good, become targets of attack if their lives of truth, justice, and kindness contradict what others want to believe is possible or acceptable.  Without making a single judgment on someone else, that person will be opposed by the wicked because even a hardened heart will recognize the dichotomy which then exposes their own depravity and need for God, for all have sinned and need God's redemption (Romans 3:23).  The real battle is inside each of us.

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? ² You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. ³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. ⁴ You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.  (James 4: 1-4)

America is so disjointed right now, that it’s impossible to fully or accurately answer the student’s question regarding what follows postmodernism.  The only unifying theme right now seems to be disunity.  But the real war tearing our nation apart and leaving us so angry and disillusioned is ultimately spiritual in nature. Without faith or any spiritual foundation, hopelessness, discontent, bitterness, anger, and depressing disillusionment will grow instead.  Goodness, justice, or even pure gladness have no place in a society that throws her fist at God. When absolute truth is denied or abandoned, feelings displace both facts & reason.  Feeling fearful (or paranoid) that we may offend another leads a nation to exchange freedom of self-government for tyranny by a few unstable outliers, and then all the foundations upon which a nation once stood erode until the nation free falls into oblivion.

Let us pray that postmodernism will be replaced with revival.  May we renew our faith in God and our commitment to Him and His holy standard. May churches teach the whole truth without fear or compromise.  May our nation restore her love for God and for one another.

"He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"  (Micah 6:8)

Are you angry with God?

Life can certainly be unfair.  Overwhelming oppression overflows.  Astonishing abuse abounds.  The helpless, hungry and hurting are hated and hindered.  Suffering surges.  Powerful political personae idle while the ire of ISIS ignites ill-tempered ignominy on the innocent and grave, grim, gut-wrenching genocide.  Babies are butchered. Porn is prominent.  The elected elite get a free pass from prison while violating both voters’ values and the laws of the land.  No wonder so many people are angry, but much of that anger is vented at God.  Since God doesn't seem to be producing the life many think they want and deserve, they reject Him.  And the moral relativism that permeates modern society insists that by rejecting God, He somehow no longer exists.

Many books have been written in an attempt to explain why God, who is supposed to be both good and sovereign, would allow so much suffering.  The world is fallen. Sin has consequences which naturally affect both the guilty and the innocent.  God may allow our suffering to refine us just as we may discipline our children to train them for their greater good.  Hardships may be a way of waking us up to draw us to repentance and to a closer walk with the Lord.  Struggles strengthen our faith and our resolve, and they also help us grow in appreciation for the blessings which we would otherwise take for granted.   As the saying goes, "The darker the valley, the brighter He shines."  The book of Job shows us that God may allow the righteous to suffer to prove His boast in them and to prove Satan a liar which makes suffering a privilege in that we are partaking in spiritual warfare (which kicks some Satan "boo-tay").

And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” (Job 1:8 and 2:3)

Our perseverance through trials also encourages all who hear and see so that they too may seek the Lord and grow in faith in Him.  I suppose we could list dozens of other reasons why we think God may allow injustice for a time, but ultimately, we do not know what God is thinking or what His purposes are in each situation.  We can’t fully know His reasons because we do not have His perspective. 

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord." (Isaiah 55:8)

So what do we do with all these questions?  King David, God's beloved chosen one who had a heart after His own, asked similar questions and many are recorded throughout the book of Psalms.  "Why, God?" was a common refrain.  Though he did not understand, David continued to trust God.  Job was the most righteous man of his time, yet God allowed him to suffer unbelievable loss. Job has served as the ultimate example of suffering (after Christ) ever since.  Job asked God all the why questions as well, with mournful pleadings.  Yet God did not give him the reasons he requested.  Instead God answered, "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?" (Job 38:4, ESV).

God did ultimately restore everything Job lost twofold, and He rescued and restored David after molding him (through his anguish and time spent hiding from Saul) into the man he needed to be to effectively lead Israel.  But God's response to the why questions must have been difficult to accept.  God owes us no explanation for why He does what He does, so will we trust Him anyway?

But what about us ordinary people who aren't rich like Job or called to be king like David?  Isn’t it easier just to reject God’s authority over our lives and live however we want, grasping every ounce of carnal pleasure we can from this short and seemingly wretched life?  Given the current state of the world, such thoughts are understandable, and I empathize.

Before jumping to that conclusion, I respectfully ask that you first ask yourself some of the questions that follow:

• Do I really want a god who looks at my life and this world from my narrow, limited perspective and responds accordingly?  Or, do I want God to see my life and the world from a higher, limitless, eternal perspective?  Do I want Him to guide my life the way I think is best or the way He knows is best because he knows the beginning and the end?  Do I want a sovereign, all powerful, omniscient God, or do I want a god of my own making who thinks like I do?

^"Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them."  (Psalm 139:16) 

• Do I want a vending machine god who spits out unhealthy snacks that give me quick energy now but make me crash later?  Do I want a toy dispensing god that spits out random cheap toys in plastic oval containers? Or do I want the God who offers me eternal life, forgiveness, restoration, and both living bread and living water which quench my hunger and thirst forever?

"I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever..." (John 6:51a)

"Jesus said to her, 'Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.' " (John 4: 13-14)

• If wise parents withhold certain freedoms and responsibilities from their children until the children are mature and discerning enough to handle them for their protection, why do I expect God to give me everything I want before I am ready for it and then resent Him when he doesn’t?  If I expect my children to believe that my parenting choices are for their good and their protection, why can't I trust my Heavenly Father to do the same for me?

• Do I want a sovereign, omnipotent God who controls everything in the universe according to His perfect plan, or do I want a weak, people pleasing god who will do whatever anyone asks to curry favor regardless of the long term implications?  What if different people demand contradictory things?  Which person would a squishy god appease?

• Do I want a quick-tempered, vengeful god who judges every wrong action (including my own) right away, or do I want a merciful god who is slow to anger and who waits patiently so that more may repent and believe before He pours out the full weight of His judgment and wrath as a just and holy God must eventually do? 

"The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty..." (Exodus 34:6-7).

• Do I want a god who is always permissive without exercising justice?  Do I want a god who always lets us go our own way, or do I want the God who loves us too much not to chase after us and who offers to lead us to the better path? 

• Do I have the power to suddenly remove His authority over my life by running from Him?  Did Jonah?

• If I simply say that He does not exist, does He simply disappear and cease to exist?

"For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse." (Romans 1:20)

¹⁵ "Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark,
    and who say, 'Who sees us? Who knows us?'
¹⁶ You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,  that the thing made should  say of its maker,  'He did not make me'; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, 'He has no understanding'?  (Isaiah 29: 15-16, ESV)

• Am I really better off by rejecting Him, now and in eternity? Which life brings more joy?  Who has more joy and contentment and peace in life, those who worship God or those who throw their fist at Him?

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." (John 10:10)

Whatever we each personally decide about God does not change who He is or erase the fact that we will each individually give an account to him some day.

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,  and every tongue shall confess to God.”  So then each of us will give an account of himself to God."  (Romans 14: 11-12)

When my kids complain that my parenting decisions are unfair, they may get angry and ask why (sometimes I give them a reason, and other times I do not in their best interest or because they cannot understand at the time), but they eventually accept my choices because they know me and trust my character as being full of love for them and seeking to protect and nurture them.  When we accept Christ as Savior and Lord, we begin building a relationship with God who is our perfect Father.  We are not placing our trust blindly – as weak ones, but as those who know their Father's character and know that He has never broken a single promise to His people.  Yes, life seems unfair and I don't understand all the suffering, but I know without a doubt that I can trust my Lord and Father to work all things together according to His perfect plan which is far better and higher than anything I could hope for or imagine. I just have to wait for the final outcome which only He can see.

How many wake-up calls will it take?

In the previous post, I expressed the opinion that considers the current dilemma in American politics (ie, the election free-for-all which has the most corrupt, power-hungry egomaniacs winning positions of great power instead of wiser, experienced, proven leaders who possess God fearing integrity) to be a wake-up call from the one true God who, in His abundant mercy, continues to hold back the full bowl of his judgment on us so more may repent and believe.

² "Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. ³ Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you." (Revelation 3: 2-3)

Many, including myself, have expressed this same response to such an opinion, "But haven't we been through almost eight years of wake-up calls already under Obama?"

Indeed, the last eight years have been one long trumpet blast, and people are waking up to the reality that Obama is not the great messiah they thought he was.  Blacks looked to him for improved racial relations, more opportunities, and better outcomes.  Instead he poured kerosene on the fires of racial tension and fanned the flames of hatred to new highs for my lifetime.  Crime in black communities has grown worse as a result of his policies, and many blacks are speaking out against him.

The poor expected him to raise them up out of the mire, but instead he only increased their dependency upon government entitlements.  The number of welfare recipients increased exponentially, while the economy crept along, unable to keep pace with government spending.  Surely people are realizing that his policies only made the poor poorer.

College students thought he was the hip, happening, king of hope, so they gladly voted for him as a way of changing the course of history.  Now those college students are unemployed or underemployed and drowning in school loans.

Progressives saw him as the savior of  the U.S. health care system, but Obamacare has crippled the healthcare system in America which is now less efficient and exorbitantly more expensive overall than ever before. Of the small number who are actually getting free or less expensive coverage, a large percentage are either not getting the treatment they need due to decreasing availability of services or are wondering what good free healthcare really is when death seems imminent anyway as hate crimes and terrorism escalate all around them.

So yes, some Americans are waking up to the reality that Obama is not the answer to all their problems.  But are they also waking up to their need for God and falling on their knees in repentance, or are they only growing angrier as hatred and bitterness swell inside them?  Even those of us who believe in Christ and strive to keep Him Lord over our lives are becoming frustrated, resentful, and less aware of our own need for repentance.  Instead of running to the Lord and finding all our hope in Him, we have gleaned hope over the past eight years in the belief that someone better ("because surely it can't get any worse", we reasoned) will be elected in 2016 who will begin undoing all the damage Obama's administration has done.  Now we're exasperated to discover that the candidates taking the lead for each political party are both the antithesis of what a leader should be and could possibly be even worse for our country than what what Obama has been.  Have all these wake-up calls driven us to our knees in prayer or are we still trusting in human systems, political powers, fickle people, and man-made things?  Are we double-minded, trying to put our hope in both the things of this world and the things of God, or are we wholly devoted to God?   

⁵ Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? ⁶ But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” ⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:5-10)

When we are double-minded, we doubt God and are dangerously unstable.  We become overwhelmed and stressed out "like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind." (James 1: 6-8)

We cannot and must not trust fallen humans to fix our problems or to give us hope.  The political system is not the remedy for our nation's epidemic.  The root of all our problems is a cancer of the soul, and only God can heal and restore us from the inside out.

Surely it is not wrong to hope and pray for a righteous, God-fearing leader who respects the Constitution and has the humility to recognize that all he has was given by God and should be used for God's glory, not his own.

¹⁴ “When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ ¹⁵ you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. ¹⁶ Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ ¹⁷And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold. 

¹⁸ “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. ¹⁹ And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, ²⁰ that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.  (Deuteronomy 17: 14-20)

But there is a fine line between praying for wise and honest leaders and depending upon those leaders to do what only God can do.

¹⁹ And all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.” ²⁰ And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart.  (1 Samuel 12: 18-20)

America certainly needs to repent from the highest rung of the corrupt political ladder to the most humble and faithful minister of the gospel.  But first repentance must begin with me.  Too often I have crossed that line, misplacing my hope.  May we each personally begin placing all our trust in God alone and pray for revival to sweep across our nation.

In God, whose word I praise,
    in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.
    What can flesh do to me?  (Psalm 56:4)

True Leadership vs. U.S. Politics

So I'm no political analyst, but I have studied leadership for many years and taught leadership training workshops for professionals. But surely most anyone would agree and understand that true leaders care more about their team and the greater good than they care about themselves. They inspire those they lead to do their best and to work together in unity through consistent servant leadership and by encouraging others, not by disparaging them nor by enabling them to continue down a destructive path. Their humility, wisdom, honesty, and integrity earn them respect not only from those they lead but also from everyone they meet so that people want to follow them.

The two candidates leading in the presidential primaries (for the highest office in America...perhaps even the world) are the antithesis of all that a leader should be. When non-leaders are appointed to lead, one of two things tends to happen:

1) They will resort to hostile tyranny, using poor judgment and brute force to control the people they are supposed to be leading
2) The people, agencies, and organizations below them in rank will refuse to submit, and anarchy will break loose.

Both options lead to disaster.

While Christians absolutely must respect the position of those placed in authority over us and value each and every human life as sacred, we are not obligated to respect an authority's immoral character or to obey any command that contradicts God's word or that violates the law of the land. Our military forces have pledged to uphold and defend the Constitution from all enemies, both foreign and domestic. (Their pledge is not an allegiance to the POTUS who could be an enemy of the Constitution.) Neither Trump nor Clinton has shown any respect for the Constitution, America's prized possession, but both are ultimately under it's authority. That said, things could get really ugly here in America as allegiances are tested and as America continues to schism.

How many of us would readily and knowingly hire a felon, adulterer, liar, murderer, strip club & casino owner, or foul mouthed bully to work for us in any capacity (body guard, manager, adviser, cook, nanny, etc.)? Yet, we will likely give the highest position in the land to one who is more than one of these? It seems to me that our merciful, loving Lord is sending us yet another wake-up call so we will repent before it is too late. #NoFearHere #JustSoundingtheAlarm

Life is a vapor

With our state's primaries taking place tomorrow, it seems every Bible verse I have read since the presidential race began makes me think of the elections. Here are few more verses to consider when casting a ballot:

"Do not boast about tomorrow,  for you do not know what a day may bring." (Proverbs 27:1)

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will ......— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil." (James 4:13-16)

office.com

A few personal applications:

• Let us not choose our leaders based on the empty promises they make but on the character they have demonstrated. Those who boast about what they will do are assuming a degree of sovereignty that only God possesses. Pride comes before a fall, and all who exalt an arrogant one as their leader will come crashing down with him. 

• Our lives on this earth are but a vapor, so none of the suffering we endure here lasts very long in the grand scheme of things, so do not grow anxious or afraid. The one true eternal king reigns forever with both perfect justice and extravagant love & mercy. No one knows what the next day on this earth will bring, but we can know for certain where we will spend eternity, and we can personally know our perfect King now and forever.

The origins of entitlement thinking

In a previous post entitled, "When the Prize is the Real Demise",  I lamented over what the prevailing entitlement mentality is doing to our country. Entitlement thinking is also resulting in a generation of rude, selfish people.  This past weekend, I bent over backwards to show consideration for others. Love compels us to inconvenience ourselves to serve another.  I do realize that true kindness done in love should not expect repayment, but my acts of service were returned with bitter, angry, ungrateful words.  While I should not expect a reward for my efforts to serve another, I did not expect to be mistreated instead.  So I went for a bike ride to relax a little and let go of the negative emotion their responses ignited in me, but on the bike trail I found people blocking the trail and refusing to move so that I could pass by.  One lady was talking on her cell phone while walking her dog.  The leash went clear across the path which almost caused me to wreck and could have sent me flying across the handle bars had I not veered off the trail, nearly missing a tree and almost tumbling down the hill into the creek. As I recovered, she hurled profanities at me, accusing me of trying to run over her dog, when I had just risked my life to protect her pet.  Apparently, in her mind, the cell phone and the dog were her only concerns, and no one else was allowed on the public trail for which our family works hard and pays dearly in taxes.   But if I were not so selfish myself or had not been so offended by all the people who responded to my deliberate attempts to be thoughtful with such hostility, I would have let it go, I guess.   I  just miss the days when residents of the same community were like family instead of opponents. It was never an imposition to borrow an egg or some sugar or drop by unexpectedly where I grew up.   Porch sitting was a friendly tradition and "howdy-do" was a common refrain.  I miss the culture that values being nice to one another.

When I reached the lake during this bike ride, however, the sun was setting, and I was reminded of the goodness of God.  Even when I can't understand my current circumstances, why people are so mean to each other, or why God may allow suffering in a specific situation (although I understand that my perspective of the big picture is limited and trust Him to use it all for all growth and betterment), the reality is that God is always good.  He knows how it feels to sacrifice for others (He gave his only Son) only to have them respond by whipping Him with iron clad ropes that rip the skin off, spitting on Him, tearing off his clothes, insulting him, and ultimately crucifying him on a cross, the most torturous punishment of His time.  He gave it all yet still pours out mercy.

Psalm 78:38

Yet he, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger often and did not stir up all his wrath.

There is just something about the sun setting behind a horizon lined with water that declares His sovereignty, presence, and goodness. He understands and has compassion on us.

Photo copyrighted by blog author & taken with a very old Android phone

Psalm 103:13

As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

We are all born selfish and entitled because we are all born into sin.  The fall of all mankind as told in Genesis 3 reveals the source and the origin of entitlement thinking and shows us the consequences of such faulty thinking.  Adam and Eve had everything they could possibly want or need and the unique privilege of being made in God's image, unlike anything else on earth. Even the angels longed to have the relationship and favor with God that those two possessed.

Deceived by Satan and tempted by her own selfish desire, Eve decided that she was entitled to even more than all of that.  She wanted to be like God, possessing His knowledge.  And Adam followed her line of thinking when it was his job to lead her in the way that is right.  As Beth Moore wrote, "Nothing muffles conviction as effectively as entitlement." Entitlement thinking is lustful thinking.  It is having more than you deserve but wanting the one thing you do not have instead.  The  two greatest commandments God has given us are to love Him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength and to love each other, yet entitlement thinking says, "I've got to look out for number one, and number one is me!"

Entitlement thinking is of the devil, and he uses it to enslave us. If we want to break free from it's grip on us, we must submit to God first, and with God's power equipping us, we must resist the lie that we are entitled to anything and embrace the truth!

James 4:7

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Her lamp burns all night, but she does not burn out!

“She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.  Her lamp does not go out at night.” (Proverbs 31:18)

Inside a traditional merchant's shop in Jaffa, Israel

As I examined Proverbs 31:18 for a  writing assignment for our church women's ministry, I quickly recognized the irony in my own life. Overcommitment had exhausted me.  With a body confused by jet lag and pressing deadlines driving me to work all night long on too many occasions, I know how it feels when the sun comes up before my lamp goes out.   My personal scenario is not the context of this verse, however, for this woman still manages to rise before dawn to prepare breakfast for her family (vs. 15), while I have had to outsource  my early morning responsibilities to my firstborn.  How could this ideal woman stay up all night working and still manage to wake up before the roosters?  What exactly is this lamp that burns all night, and how can we reconcile these verses into realistic goals for ourselves as daughters of the King of Kings?

Bible commentators tend to agree that the Proverbs 31 woman is a prudent manager of her time and resources who labors tirelessly to provide for her family.  As she sees the profit from her merchandise, she is inspired to work all the more diligently.  Some propose that the lamp is simply her way of protecting her family from bandits, but she still must be faithful to keep the lamp amply supplied with oil throughout the night.

Gill’s Exposition of the Whole Bible suggests that the lamp may represent the “glorious light of the Gospel, which always continues in the darkest times the church ever been in ; or her spiritual prosperity, which, though it may be damped, will never be extinct; when the candle of the wicked is often put out”.  Her lamp also reminds me of the golden lampstand which the priests kept burning constantly in the temple (Leviticus 24:1-3) with the oil God commanded His people to provide.  In the New Testament, lamp imagery is used to exhort believers to always be ready for Christ’s return.   (Matthew 25)

“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning.” (Luke 12:35)

The book of Proverbs uses lamp imagery to compare the wicked to the righteous.  The lamp of the wicked is sin (Proverbs 21:4), and this lamp will be snuffed out (Proverbs 24:20, Job 21:7), while the lamp of the righteous is God’s word (Psalm 119:105, Proverbs 6:23) and will never be vanquished. In Matthew 5:15, the lamp is Christ whose truth must never be hidden but placed on a lampstand to give light to all in the house. (Matthew 5:15)  In Revelation, the seven churches are referred to as the seven lampstands (Revelation 1:20), and the two witnesses that will come during the first half of the tribulation are also referred to as lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth, shining Christ’s light of truth. (Revelation 11:4-5)  Ultimately, the Lamb of God will replace the moon and the sun as our lamp light, burning both day and night (Revelation 21:23) and reigning forever! (Revelation 22:5)

Whether taken only in the context of her profitable industry or more broadly to the many symbolic Bible references to lamps burning continually, her lamp illuminates her steadfast trust in God alone.

If we are walking closely with God and abiding in the center of His will, doing the work He gives us without adding our own task lists, then we will stay busy and bear fruit, but we will not burn out.  Similarly, when we are exercising our spiritual gifts for the building up of the body the way the Lord intends, then doing the work He gives us energizes us, for the power and strength to do those tasks comes from the Lord. (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12)  However, if we set our own priorities, chasing after our own selfish desires instead of God’s will, then we will crash and burn.  Any work done outside of God’s will is vanity and will exhaust us.  (Psalm 127:1-2)

To be a Proverbs 31 woman is to be wise, prudent, and faithful.  She seeks the Lord in everything. Her work is blessed by the Lord, and she finds His strength flowing through her as she delights herself in the Lord and in His work.  (Psalm 34:8)  Being in the center of God’s will is the greatest joy or “high” imaginable, so she has all the motivation and strength needed to do her tasks day and night unto Him.  This ideal woman does not become overwhelmed by her labors because she lets the Lord set her priorities.  By keeping the Lord first in her life, she is able to manage all the demands of being a wife, mother, merchant, and landowner without exhaustion. (Isaiah 40:31)

Her continually burning lamp represents to me a heart surrendered to Christ and His Lordship.  As she draws near to the Lord, her motives become pure.  She does not stay up late working because she is a workaholic seeking selfish goals.  She does not stay up past her prime to secretly feed her addiction to Amazon Prime.  She isn’t pursuing deeds of darkness late at night, for darkness is pushed back by the lamp’s light. A lamp of evil does not continue burning (Proverbs 13:9) as hers does.  The love that comes from God compels her to serve her family, to give generously (Proverbs 31:20), and to invest wisely.  

Unlike the unprepared virgins who forget to bring oil to meet the bridegroom (Matthew 25: 7-13), the Proverbs 31 woman is ready to meet her Savior. She continually shines Christ’s light. She teaches her children the ways of the Lord through consistent example.   She puts her hope in the Lord and lets Him lead her life.  If we too seek Christ first, letting Him set our priorities and lead our lives, then we will not grow weary in doing good (Isaiah 40:28, Galatians 6:9, 2 Thessalonians 3:13, Hebrews 2:13).  Instead we will live profitable, fruitful lives filled with joy, fulfillment, and balance for the glory of God.