February 3, 2022

 

Look in the Mirror

 

‘“Why has the LORD dealt thus with this great city?”

And they will answer, “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and worshipped other gods and served them.”’

-- Jeremiah 22:8-9

 

They cry out for God to intervene. They loudly ask people to pray for God to return, to turn our nation around and back to Him. They point fingers and spew hard words at anyone who disagrees. They pray even as they harden their hearts toward others. They fail to see themselves as they really are.

 

Our nation is so very polarized. We have those who proclaim their faith even as they hold up individuals as saviors. They demand laws to protect themselves from those who aren’t like them. And they use the Bible to justify their actions. Can’t they see who they really are?

 

You can’t truly love God while you hate others who were made in His image. You can’t love like Jesus while demanding that others stay out of “your” country. You can’t minister to the poor while your words and hardened hearts blame them for their poverty.

 

We have become a nation that worships ourselves and our own agendas. We are a people who proclaim our rights even as we demand that others get out of our way so we can do as we please. We are more interested in our possessions – money, cars, homes – than people. We have filled our churches with modern-day Pharisees who claim to know God intimately but who have missed Him amongst all our rhetoric.

 

Why is our country torn apart? Because we have made gods of ourselves rather than worshipping the one, true God. Look in the mirror. Examine your own heart. Stop justifying yourself with lies.