“Where there is no vision, the people
perish,
But
blessed is he who keeps the law.”
Proverbs 29:17
There are many
translations of the Bible so there are many versions of this verse. Other words for vision include “no revelation
of God and His Word”, no redemptive revelation of God”, God’s law and order”,
“guidance from God”.
Other words for
perish are, “cast off restraint”, get out of control”, law and order
disappear”, “lose self control”, “decay”, “run wild”, “stumble all over themselves”, “do what ever
they want to”. As I read over the many words for perish I felt like I was
reading the past few years of newspapers.
It is what is going on in this country and world today. I found it disturbing, to say the least.
The small seeds
that have been scattered and planted for the past decades have now bloomed and
everyone wonders, “Where did these weeds come from? How did we get to where we are in this
country, with so much division, hatred, lawlessness, and violence?” “How did we
come to this?”
This country was
never perfect but it did have boundaries of behavior that were acceptable and
unacceptable for all people. We had standards to measure by. Acceptable behavior was upheld by society.
Unacceptable behavior was addressed and corrected. If unacceptable behavior was not corrected
then it was punished.
Over time and tide
those standards have been battered down and washed away by relativism and
having no objective truth. Little by
little the boundaries of behavior were pushed against again and again, little
by little, and finally those boundaries fell completely. Without those boundaries anything goes. Some people are now able to abuse that
freedom, to cast off restraint, get out
of control,, run wild, ignore law and order, do whatever feels good to them,
and in the end they wind up stumbling all over themselves. Others now act all shocked and disgusted at
those who do and say what they want with no remorse. Then the pointing fingers come out and the
scapegoating begins. The war of words
and opinions fill the air, everyone blaming one another. This only accentuates the division, hatred,
lawlessness and violence and tends to drown out any voice of reason or any hope
for a solution.
I have a Trinitarian and Biblical
worldview so I am not at all shocked; just sad.
I know that human nature is just that and that the deeds of unredeemed
or unconverted flesh lead right to where it has led. Many of the World Religions would testify to
that as well. But Religion is the number
one boundary that has been battered down and done away with. And that is what makes me very sad because in
the end that is where the root of the problem lies. Religion has failed to do what it was meant
to do; make us better people, people of love and peace and contentment.
I consider myself a disciple of Jesus, not of a tradition or a church, but I come from the
Christian Tradition so I can only speak to that; but we have failed again and
again to listen to and stay true to our Source and now we are where we
are. But this is nothing new. When Jesus came to earth the world conditions
were not unlike ours. A corrupt
government centered around power, money, and immorality ruled over the people. Those who believed in God knew at some point
their king would come and defeat the rulers that were ruling over them. Jesus did come and where did He go? Not to Caesar or Pilate, but to the
established Religious System. There is
where he placed the blame. They had
compromised their mission. They did not
help the poor or heal the sick. They
marginalized people and had no love or compassion for those who God had put in
their charge to care for. They were too
busy and too blended in with the world system of power and prestige. Out of the fear of losing that they killed
the prophets and eventually crucified God’s Son.
There are a lot of
people who see the problem and are trying to come up with new ways of doing
things. I have seen this concern many
times and have watched as people come up with new systems to replace the old
systems that are no longer working.
Eventually the new system becomes the old system and you know the
routine. I have been a part of several
of these groups and they looked like this…We don’t like the idea of Pope so we
will leave and do something different. The
only thing really different was that they became the Pope. I began to see the problem. We want to do it our way, which is that good
ole human nature rising itself once again.
The thought that
went through my head today was this…Perhaps our extremely righteous indignation
against Donald Trump is that we really know deep inside our hearts that there
but for the grace of God go I. I don’t
believe that I am the only one who always wants to have things my way and tend
to want to make others do things my way.
So, when it comes
to always trying to change Religion or change the Church, how much of that
change reflects “things my way” thinking?
Do we even ever think to ask God how He feels about His Church and does
He want things changed. I have been to
many “making the church better” meetings and except for the opening two minute
prayer which we don’t even wait for an answer before we start in on our ideas,
I would say the answer is no, not REALLY.
Somehow I think that might really be our problem.
I have continually
been struck to conviction when I ponder Isaiah 55: 8-11.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
Neither are your ways my ways.
As the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are my ways higher than your ways
And my thoughts than your thoughts.
So is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty
But will accomplish what I desire
And achieve the purpose for which I sent
it.”
I don’t sense that
God is all worried and disturbed about what is happening in Religion or in the
Church. The People He has been
continually building since the beginning of time and will continue to build
until the end of time is alive and well and “the gates of Hades will not
overcome it”.
As for me, I want
to hear that prophetic vision, find that “spring of living water”, and go with
its flow; I want to stop digging the man made cisterns that continually break
and cannot hold water. (Jeremiah 2:13)
God’s ways work for me.
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