As a Christian, I believe we are called to watch the signs of the times (Luke 12:37). Given the current state of the world, I think Jesus may be on His way to the stables to pick out a white horse. That being said, as an American who cares deeply about my country, I would love to see it last until He gets here.
Sadly, we have largely abandoned God. As a result, people often say that we deserve judgment. Some even seem to welcome it. We probably do deserve judgment, but that's not our decision to make. One thing I rarely hear is a call for Christians to cry out to God to have mercy on our country.
I'm a big fan of mercy because it means being treated better than we deserve. I am very grateful that God has extended mercy to me through the gift of salvation, as well as in my day-to-day life. There were a couple of guys that God knew back in the old days who had views on mercy.
One was an advocate of it, and God called him a friend; the other hated it, and God stuck him inside a fish. I'm not judging Jonah; the Ninevites sounded awful. Still, as we see in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, since God knew their hearts, He chose to judge the people of those cities. However, He appreciated that Abraham had enough love in his heart to stand before Him, the All-Mighty God, and plead for mercy on them. As Matthew 5:7 says, "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy."
We Christians used to have the attitude, "There but for the grace of God go I." We knew that if we quenched our empathy, we would be blind to the pain around us. Today, in some circles, that view seems to have fallen out of favor. By definition, the word mercy acknowledges that sin has been committed, so we must tell the truth about sin.
However, the world's abuse of virtues like empathy and mercy does not give us license to abandon them. Jesus warned us when He spoke of the end of days that, "Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold" (Matthew 24:12). So, being surrounded by sin is never an excuse to get a hard heart. We must be merciful because our Father is merciful (Luke 6:36).
Look around, there is really only one hope for America, God's mercy: "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14).
Notice that He's talking about us Christians, not that sinner down the street. We have been poor stewards of our communities for a long time (According to Webster's 1828 Dictionary, steward is synonymous with a butler or a chamberlain, so a servant of the community, not a boss). Thankfully, God's faithfulness isn't dependent on our record of performance. His mercy is new every day. So "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16).
Wrong Speak is a free-expression platform that allows varying viewpoints. All views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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