Now What?

A brief guide on what to do in a post-election America.

This past presidential election has highlighted many divides in the United States. Now that the election is over a growing realization is settling in that we have to still live with each other. I have been thinking quite a bit as to the pain I have seen displayed on Facebook, and I posted my thoughts there regarding that subject. I garnered many positive responses to that post, but positive online responses mean very little without concrete actions to accompany them. So with that in mind, I will share some actions that we need to take. These will be from a Christian perspective, but even those without this perspective will most likely find something helpful.

Pray

 

The Bible states that we should "Pray without ceasing." Without prayer even the most well-intentioned response can can easily go awry. If for no other reason prayer is beneficial because it causes us to slow down and let our minds process the flood of information and emotions that bombard us. We need to keep in mind that prayer is much more than listing our grievances. It should involve a great deal of listening to what God has to say to us. While we're at, we should also do a lot more listening to each other.

Listen

 

Some of my Facebook posts led to someone (with views different than mine) contacting me privately regarding my motivation for posting the articles/videos that I did. This led to a conversation in which we came to the agreement that a major problem was that many people simply talk past each other instead of attempting to see the world from the other persons/groups point of view. Listening doesn't mean that you have to compromise your views, it simply shows others the respect that you would like them to show to you. You might be surprised to discover causes that both of you agree should be defended.

Defend Causes Not Candidates

 

Christianity has been done a great disservice by religious leaders that feel the need to promote one candidate or one political party over the other. Such pandering to political power causes many to think that Christians care primarily about winning elections instead of winning souls. I see no where in the Scriptures where Christians are told to aspire to political power. Doing so only corrupts both institutions, with Christianity taking the brunt of the damage. (Something I wrote about in previous posts.) Defending causes can be done in many ways, but the most obvious way is to . . .

Donate Time and Money

 

Your first priority should be your place of worship because let's face facts, the problems we face in this world cannot be solved by political means. Changes in attitudes come only through changes of the heart, and the best conduit of that change at least should be places of worship. If you discover that your religious leaders hold views that you believe to be wrong, talk with them. If you don't get satisfactory answers to your questions and concerns, prayerfully consider finding somewhere else to worship. However, don't give up on God altogether. The Devil often uses corrupt leaders to drive people away from God. Don't allow yourself to fall into that trap. There may also be other organizations that you're interested in supporting outside of your place of worship. You should support them as well with your time and money. If you can't support them in those ways, show your support online. Also, let's not forget another way to show your support is to . . .

Contact your Political Representatives

 

I put this one last for the reason I mentioned in the previous section, political action will only take you so far. However, that doesn't mean that you should totally neglect this avenue. Find out who your representatives are and contact them, and don't forget your local ones. The best way to get your message across is to go old school: telephone calls and snail mail. Electronic means of communication will generate an electronic response, often automatically. The higher level of interaction the greater the impact.

Whatever You Do, Do Something

We find ourselves at a key point in history, and our actions determine not only our future on this world, but also in the world to come. Regardless of your views of Jesus, one thing we can agree on is that He wasn't lazy. He went about doing good. For His professed followers to be spectators to this country's and this world's suffering does a disservice to the name of Christ, and should not be tolerated. So as you go about doing good, encourage others to do the same, and hopefully we can help bring an end to this suffering once and for all.

To Be Loved

Courtesy y-axis.com

Satya Nadella wants love, but he's looking for it in all the wrong places.

Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, recently made a statement that caught my attention. He stated,

"We want to move from people needing Windows to choosing Windows, to loving Windows. That is our bold goal."

A bold goal, yes, but not an uncommon one. I'll follow that up with a bold statement of my own, Mr. Nadella has this love thing all wrong.

Now, to be fair, one can't get a full view of what someone thinks about a topic, (especially a complex topic such as love) from a couple sentences, but it's a start. You can't judge a book by its cover, but you can still get a general idea from that cover as to what is inside. So that being said, let's unpack Nadella's statement.

Nadella's Ladder

• Needed: When we associate with someone out of necessity it means that we really don't want to, but we do it because we have to. An example is children choosing teams for a game, the last kid picked was picked simply because they were the only one left. Not a favorable position to be in.
• Chosen: The next rung in Nadella's ladder is more favorable, but still not ideal. Someone in the chosen category is definitely liked, but is also interchangeable with others. Firmly in the middle of the pack, it's nice for them to be around, but we don't really miss them when they're gone.
• Loved: The top of the ladder, and Nadella's goal for Windows. Someone in this category cannot be done without. The first one picked, they not only make life worth living, but also are sorely missed when they're gone.

That sort of progression may work with Mr. Nadella, but God's love turns that list around.

God's Love is Different

With God's list, the love comes first. In fact, God loves us even though we were/are His enemies. He doesn't need anything from us, but still wants to spend time with us. Not only does He love us, but He also showed that love by dying in our place.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8 NIV

Let that sink in for a little bit. The best human relationship we can imagine pales in comparison with the relationship that God offers us. In essence, this unconditional love and acceptance is what sets Christianity apart from other world religions. Nothing is earned, it is only received, and anyone who states otherwise is not a true follower of God.

So as many people (at least in the United States) start talking about a holiday of love, don't be like Nadella and look for love simply from other people, look to the True Source because it is only from this Source will your desires be truly fulfilled.

Who Cares?

Image: kairsjoy/photobucket

Few people will ever care as much about our projects as we do, but that's a good thing.

One important fact remains regarding whatever activities we do, whatever projects we work on, whatever dreams we have.  Few people will be as excited, as involved, as we are.  Why should they?  They did not come up with the idea, they didn't make the plans, they didn't put the blood, sweat, and tears into it like we did.  However, that should not discourage us from striving toward our goals. 

In fact, that should make us want to push even more. The lack of caring most likely means that we are on to something. That lack of caring may be God's way of telling us what direction we should go.  Our product, service, or work of art could fill a need and/or inspire people in ways that haven't been done before.

Don't let the masses tell you what you should or should not do.  Go forward into uncharted territory, into the great unknown.  As the words to a song go,

To hear with my heart,
To see with my soul,
To be guided by a hand I cannot hold,
To trust in a way that I cannot see,
That's what faith must be.

Have you ever stepped out in faith and been greatly rewarded?  Tell us your story.

A Desire to Obey

Psalm 119:1-8 

Aleph

 ¹ Blessed are they whose ways are blameless,
       who walk according to the law of the LORD.

 ² Blessed are they who keep his statutes
       and seek him with all their heart.
 ³ They do nothing wrong;
       they walk in his ways.
 ⁴ You have laid down precepts
       that are to be fully obeyed.
 ⁵ Oh, that my ways were steadfast
       in obeying your decrees!
 ⁶ Then I would not be put to shame
       when I consider all your commands.
 ⁷ I will praise you with an upright heart
       as I learn your righteous laws.
 ⁸ I will obey your decrees;
       do not utterly forsake me.

A key element in obeying God is desire.

As I go through Psalm 119, I will be focusing on one section at a time because there is no way I can do it justice by trying to cover the entire psalm in one day. Thankfully, psalm is naturally divided in to sections based on the letters of the ancient Hebrew alphabet. Some Bibles, like the NIV, divide it into sections for you. This section is for aleph, the first letter of the alphabet, and if you were to see it in its original language every verse would start with that letter. The technical term for this type of writing is "acrostic".

This section deals with God's law, namely, the keeping of it. The key point I want to bring out is the psalmist's desire to keep the law. Some may think that it's a no-brainer to say that in order to keep the law you must first want to keep it, but if you look around at the world today it's easy to see that many people are not acting as though they want to obey any law, let alone God's law. This psalm doesn't go into how to keep the law, and on it's own it appears to promote a works-oriented religion which is why you shouldn't base your beliefs on just a few verses of the Bible.

There is an old saying that goes, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." I would go beyond that to say that this journey begins not with the physical step, but by choosing to, wanting to, take that step.

In our battle with sin it may feel as if we are walking a thousand miles, but if we have the desire in our hearts we are headed in the right direction. Next time we'll deal with how to continue on this journey.