As We Get Rolling

After a brief lull for the holidays, 2022 is off and running—running wild.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll likely say it again: If you take your eyes off of Jesus, look out. The bad news is that government can’t help you. The good news is that you are okay whether government works or not.

Jesus Christ did not come to establish an earthly kingdom. He didn’t come to bring heaven to earth, establish a utopia, or make you comfortable in life.

Jesus came to make a way. He came to redeem and reconcile. He came to care for the broken, lift up the downtrodden, comfort the orphan, and grant life to those dead in their trespasses and sin. He came for you and me and He invites us to embrace His life and leadership. He wouldn’t have called you to be salt and light if He didn’t understand that you would be living in unsavory, dark times.

It’s imperative that we understand who we are, who our Father is, and what we are called to be about. Christianity is not simply a statement of belief. It is the means and way by which we live. A faith that it is not implemented is irrelevant, or as James says it, faith without corresponding action is worthless.

Whether following the political alliances our Christian leaders are courting or courting comfort within ourselves through political hopes, either angle is shortsighted, offensive to our faith, and disreputable to onlookers. Why? Because your hope is not in government to get it right. Your hope is in Christ and must be in Him alone.

Anything or anyone falling short of this standard is not worthy of your confidence.

It’s alluring to pay more attention to life’s drama as life’s drama becomes more dramatic. To watch, like a gawker looking at the spectacle of a wreck on the highway, is not your calling. It’s tempting to watch the world spiral and wonder if whoever is in charge can arrest the spiral and secure the hope of civil society.

But this is simply another way—a passive way—of trusting that societal leadership will take care of you.

I have two big thoughts to offer as the New Year accelerates: First, the poison in society has reduced us to the lowest, common denominator: division. As the studies are demonstrating, American society is fractured, splintered—one could probably say, shattered. “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall….”

Given our situation, it’s not likely we will resolve our differences by dialogue and reasoned argument. This is immensely sad! Our factions have forfeited our civility and sown rancor—all in hopes of gaining-regaining-maintaining power.

Said another way, we are not going to be able to reason our way out of the predicament we’ve created. Our national dialogue is nonsensical and you can’t reason your way through nonsense. The only option is to short-circuit it by cutting off its power.

At this juncture, I suggest that your primary contribution to what’s transpiring is to stop the mania when you are in position to speak to it. Denounce division, derision, and attributed disrepute at every turn. Arguing your point is pointless. If the lowest common denominator is division, then you must work the problem from the basis of that denominator.

Unless the basic respect for individual viability is reestablished, our future is dark. Said another way, unless we apply the brakes and stop society’s direction, it is not possible to have a national dialogue. There are monstrous issues to be addressed and resolved, but until we all return to civility, any words of reason fall on unattuned ears.

First, we must stop. I’m recommending that you not engage the drama. Instead, simply say, “Stop. There are issues to be resolved, granted, but this discord is serving no good purpose.”

This cease and desist does two things: It arrests the spiraling environment and it lays bare the risk of untended division.

My second big idea pertains to your role in society: Ron Elving quotes political scientist Barbara F. Walter who said, "The U.S. used to be considered a full democracy like Norway, Switzerland or Iceland, [but] it's now considered a partial democracy like Ecuador, Somalia or Haiti."

Ecuador. Somalia. Haiti. These are failed states, friends.

From Progressives to Conservatives, a simple search reveals all parties agree on this: democracy in the United States is in danger. Each side has its opinions why this is so, but each remains entrenched with sufficient pride to prevent the humility of saying, democracy is more important than my position on this matter. At this point, society remains prideful enough in its humanism to sabotage the humility of turning our face to God as opposed to the failed systems of government.

Ron Elving of NPR observes in an article that I think merits your reading that a majority of Americans believe the country is already fighting a cold civil war and that a hostile civil war is likely. A majority of Republicans believe their state should secede from the Union. And lest you shake your head derisively at those damnable Conservatives, 41% of those who voted for Mr. Biden believe the same about their state: secession makes sense.

This is remarkable!

A significant faction inside America is busy rewriting the history of the Civil War. Chief among these is the media, led by the New York Times, who are complicit by their endorsement and perpetuation. The opportunistic and self-serving rewrite of this important period in our history reveals two things: a) These folks don’t understand America’s history from 1850-1878, or they do and they are sowing discord with malic of forethought, and b) a people who misunderstand, do not understand, or revise their history are destined to repeat their history.

We are playing with fire as a country—tolerating and accommodating a dance with death. Lest we forget, the last time America found itself in similar circumstance to today, we sought to resolve our divisions by killing 600,000 to 700,000 with a civil war. The southern part of the United States was so ruined it has not even yet fully recovered. Racism is metastasizing with our march to establish equity and the current arguments over abortion, immigration, and management of the pandemic reveal that the contentiousness of state’s rights that were an integral part of the Civil War remain unresolved. Denial is irresponsibility, but so is inaction in the face of looming atrocity.

Now would be a great time to engage.

What can you do?

Certainly you are active in society. You vote. You pay attention. You keep up with the issues. But this is simply your civic duty. Yes, you must be civically, societally, and politically active. It is both your right and your responsibility as a citizen. Forfeiting your place at the polls, in your neighborhood, or in your society because you are traveling, busy, or the weather outside is frightful is irresponsible. Engage.

But if all you do is engage with society in its twisting, corkscrewing spiral, you are tacitly endorsing society as your hope and the resolve for all that ails us. As a Believer and member of the family of God, there is more that you have to offer people as society becomes less savory and darkness descends.

Yes, we engage with society. Just like the example Jesus set for us: We are out and about, mixing it up with the publicans, the sinners, the religious, and the destitute in soul and body. However, we engage not only to preserve hope for society but to position ourselves as salt and light for the life of Christ, the Gospel, the Good News.

As Bonhoeffer stated it, the church is the conscience of society and the State. That society and government are unsavory and dark is not an indictment on them. They are merely behaving like lost people behave. No, the indictment is on us, the church, the Body of Christ both corporate and individual. Society is unsavory and dark because we have failed in our mission to be salt and light within a destitute, fallen, and debauched world.

Brothers and sisters in the faith, we cannot be salt and light from inside the church, from within our small group, or by attending a study. Jesus instructed us to “Go!” and go we must.

“Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.” The quote is attributed to St. Francis, who exhibited in life the force of the statement, but likely did not utter this exact string of words. But for my purposes, the quote offers accountability and comfort for living our lives as Christians.

People are drawn to God through Christ. It’s the God-shaped vacuum Pascal wrote about. A vacuum sucks—pulls, draws—all things to itself. God seeks to save. He draws all men to an encounter with Christ. Exhibit the life of Christ in all you do and your life will declare the glories of life in Christ and be compelling—sucking, drawing, pulling, enticing—to those around you.

But how?

It is my practice to view door knobs and door handles as signals—reminders—that before opening the door to the room beyond, I declare in my thoughts, Lord Jesus, I’m trusting you. Live through me. Whether it’s my house door, my truck door, the grocery door, or the doctor’s office all doors are reminders of whose I am, who I am, and why I remain on the planet.

Train yourself to call upon Christ in all your ways. I encourage you: Pray and then step forward. Engage.

Whether it’s with my wife or my friends, I pay attention to the conversation and atmosphere. Not to resolve it! Reference earlier. We are in a desperate situation that is not reasonable. Have you not noticed? Conversation, civility, negotiation, bipartisanship, reasonability—all of this has broken down. Progress or prevention is occurring through blunt force.

When the conversation or atmosphere turns candid and I sense the despair, disillusionment, and frustration, I see that as my signal to change the narrative by offering an alternative:

“Man, this is disheartening. I’m finding solace in prayer and I tell God regularly that my hope is in Him.”

“Wow.” I’m paying attention to these issues as well, but my hope is in Christ Jesus.”

“This rancor is unsettling. Good gosh! I pray every morning that God’s peace will be mine for whatever transpires.”

You get the idea. There’s nothing heavy handed in the above statements—nothing indicating that others need to adopt your viewpoint. Nothing preachy or religious. Rather, just an honest confession from you that breaks up the droning narrative of the day with a statement of hope and peace.

The takeaway is that you must engage. Said otherwise, you must insert yourself into the action, not with an opinion per se, but with yourself. Here’s how I’m managing the mania. The otherworldliness of God as opposed to government is the salt. That you are engaged and finding hope and peace is the light.

That you are to engage is essential, but how do you determine what personal engagement looks like for you?

Dr Bill Bright, Founder of Cru

Bill Bright, the Founder of Campus Crusade for Christ—now called Cru—said that if he was with a person longer than two minutes, he considered the meeting a divine appointment to share the Gospel. During my formative years as a Christian, Dr. Bright’s conviction was presented as the evangelistic standard all Christians should live by.

After much guilt and shame, it finally occurred to me that a disingenuous witness for Christ was an ineffective witness for Christ. Whoever I might be, I’m not Bill Bright.

Back in the day, I was dating a lovely woman, deeply committed to Christ, and as honest and sincere as any human being could be. She and I could be on elevator. Someone would get on, we would both speak, and almost instantly there would be rapport between this stranger and my girlfriend, and before the elevator stopped, she would have sincerely inquired, “Do you know Jesus?”

It was the craziest thing. More often than not, a brief exchange would occur, the door would open, and that would be that. I never saw her rejected, rebuffed, or a fellow-elevator rider offended. But here’s the deal: My girlfriend was this way with everyone about every subject. Simply: Her ability to communicate substantively and nearly instantaneously was just her being her. I suspect Dr. Bright was similarly gifted. Yours truly is not, however.

I’ve had substantive conversations about Jesus with seatmates on overseas flights before. But the substance didn’t bubble to the surface until we had been airborne for an hour.

Here’s my point: You are called to engage others with the light of Christ. Engagement is a biblical imperative. So, consider how you engage people on other subjects—subjects ranging from the ballgame to how the pandemic is affecting their kid’s schooling. Whatever and however you do this in keeping with your personality reveals how you will engage others about Christ.

My friends who are wired as sales guys, sell Christ. My friends who are accountants, are meticulous about Christ. My sharp-witted friends, are zingy when they discuss Christ. Musician friends, professors, pastors, teachers, business guys… each discuss Jesus in complimentary fashion to how they discuss their professions and passions as presented through their personality.

For the record, life in America is getting crazier by the day. Much of what the other side is saying about the other side is what’s called projection, or the newer term, gaslighting. When people don’t know what to do, they often project their malaise onto someone else. In doing so, it feels like it removes responsibility from them to the other person (or group). In addition, gaslighting another affords them the opportunity to see how the other person deals with the plaguing issue.

So, projection or gaslighting is a form of denial. I’ll take my stuff and put it over onto you. The dynamic created is utterly confusing and immensely difficult to disarm, but it is important to understand it because its occurrence creates a poisonous swamp of disgust, resentment, and ineffective action. Sound familiar?

We need your light. We need the savor of you.

Criminals are walking free. Children are being given gender-transition drugs without parental consent. White people are being denied treatment for the virus to promote an equitable society. There’s Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Taiwan, Iran, and North Korea. The “closed” border leaks like a sieve. Last week, comments at the SCOTUS omitted a comma in the transcript and the blowback was so severe I thought the end was near.

The world is a crazy place. And getting crazier. People are fighting on airplanes, we can’t figure out who gets to vote, the brightest among us can’t decide if masks work or not, and if they do, when they work, where to wear them, and when to wear them, and this presidential administration has announced that treatment of the virus will be based not upon need but upon race. White people get treated last. It’s the best way to establish equity—or so goes the logic.

If you let yourself get sucked into this craziness, you do violence within your soul and sabotage the efficacy of your faith—the very thing intended to secure you for days such as these. You are secure. Jesus Christ has not changed an iota and your Father remains faithful. You’re in good shape—regardless of whether or not Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and Joe Biden figure out what to do. And any hope you attach to things turning around once the mid-term elections occur is hope misplaced.

Government is not your hope. You engage with it, but you cannot entrust yourself to it. God is your hope and He placed His Spirit within you to make certain you have the guidance necessary to implement your hope.

God is not depending on you for anything, but He is offering you the chance of a lifetime: To let Him live through you, secure you, and maintain your peace while in the midst of chaos. Given this, He calls you to implement. “Act—act in the living Present!” said Longfellow.

Before I shift gears and wrangle this article to a close, here are two thoughts from Psalm 27 to encourage you: “Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident.” And later in the chapter: “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”

Now, my friend Tony Clark and I recorded another video cast. Our topic in this link is forgiveness and just how forgiven are you as a Christian? You can view the discussion here.

A couple of days ago, Tony and I explored the reason we still sin as Believers. You can view that interview here.

I have been keeping you updated about our sister in the faith, the Finnish Parliamentarian, Päivi Räsänen, who has been charged with provoking the government (insurrection) because of her Christian faith. Her trial as a Christian and for her faith begins on January 24th in Helsinki. I’ve told her that you and I will be praying for her and her team.

Last, but not least, thank you for your end-of-year gift to Lifetime.org. Your investment makes the ministry of Lifetime possible—and by Lifetime, I’m including the writing I do at PrestonGillham.com because both sites utilize the same technology. Each site is filled with archives that are tapped thousands and thousands of times each week. Thanks to you, the majority of resources at Lifetime.org are free. Even though my public platforms have been ruined by the culture gods, you remain and are a conduit of distribution. Together, we’re making a dent in the world.

Now, keep your wits about you as you go into the world.