breaking all of the rules

Why is it that we never hear any good news on television or read about it in the newspaper anymore? Has anyone out there noticed this??? It just seems that we get bombarded with negative news day after day and hour after hour. And it is depressing. Really, it is, and at times it really gets me down. And I know for a fact it is not just me, it happens to all of us. The only ones that seem to be happy and carefree are the ones who don’t watch the news or read the newspaper.

If there hasn’t been anything truly bad that has happened in your neck of the woods today I can assure you that you will hear and read about something that took place somewhere half around the world. We read about a girl who lives in Pakistan who had forceps left in her 3 years ago during an operation. Now, don’t get me wrong, I feel very sorry for her, and surgeons went in and got them out, but really, why did I need to know about that? I bet there are about 250,000,000 Americans who will never be in Pakistan and will never have to have their appendix taken out while there. And all of the sensationalism is causing me to become dull to what is happening. And that, my friend, is a bad thing. When we begin to not care about things, bad things will happen.

And our indignation gets out of kilter too. For example, this week I read that over 100,000 people have been displaced over civil war in the Sudan region and that literally thousands have died there. Did you read that, THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS. Yet gas hits $3.00 a gallon and what do we get upset with? Of course, you guessed it. Millions of illegal immigrants are in our country and a cat gets stuck between a wall in New York. You guessed it, for 13 days we watched and read as they rescued a stupid cat (sorry pet lovers, not a very politically correct statement, but there are many out there that said an “amen” to this one). Can I ask what in the world is going on????

When we get numb to the news around us, we begin to not care. And not caring is a horrible thing. A group of students are busted in a plot to assassinate several classmates and teachers at their school. When interviewed, several students did not seem to care and were not even worried. “Oh, those guys are always joking around”, one student said. Even though Columbine is still a recent memory for many, many have become so numb that they do not even sense danger when it is staring them right in the face. They could have died and it was not a big deal to them.

And we get that way about sin too. We get numb to what is going on and we don’t seem to care anymore about sin in our own back yards. We see it, think about it, and then ignore it and go on. Everyday we read about teachers having sexual encounters with their students, teens and pre-teens killing people, high profile movie stars “living together” and having children and being put on the covers of our trendiest magazines. Does anyone remember “Thou shall not kill? Thou shall not commit adultery? Thou shall not covet? Thou shall not lie? Thou shall not take the name of the Lord God in vain? Honor your father and other? Thou shall not have any other god before Me? Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it Holy? Thou shall not steal? Thou shall not bear false witness against your neighbor?”

Maybe the reason our country’s legal system has gone to such great lengths to get the 10 commandments and Christian principles and teachings removed (separated) from our government and nation is because we are breaking all of them!!!!! If Moses was alive today and came down off of the mountain and saw our country involved in all of the sin that we are doing, he would throw them down again! Yet we are so numb today, so worn down by everything we are seeing and reading about, that we don’t seem to care very much. And that is scary and dangerous.

When is the last time you took a stand on something? We had a lady at church that went forward and told of watching “Brokeback Mountain” and how horrible and disgusted she was of the movie and how she wished she had not seen it and warned others not to see it. I agree with her totally, but we should go even one step more. We should not even see the movie, not spend one red penny on it, lest the makers of the movie make money off of their wares.

When was the last time you walked out of a movie in disgust? When was the last time you flipped the channel because the content offended you? When was the last time you told your kid that they could not go to a party because you knew there was going to be alcohol there? When was the last time you read your kids MySpace blogs? How many of you even know that your kid has a Myspace blog? You would be shocked to read what is out there. You can learn a lot about your kid and their friends if you wanted to, I can assure you. I know I learned a lot about the kids in my youth group by reading their MySpace.

Its not too late to change and make a difference. It is not too late to get our heads out of the sand and take a good look around us. It is not too late to get involved. The front lines need some fighters, some reinforcements, some cavalry to come to the rescue. The battle is not going away, ignoring it will only make it worse. We all need to work together in this thing.

The line has been drawn, which side are you on. Jesus said, “You are either with me or against me.” Think about it, which side do you really want to be on. You’ve read the book, right? You know who is going to win. You would think that this would be a no brainer, right? Think again. How many warriors have you seen fall and go to the other side? Really, which side are you on? There is no middle ground. To try to take the middle ground is foolish, Jesus says that he will spew the lukewarm out of His mouth because it makes Him sick. Really, which side are you on? “Choose this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15

TR