3-29-20 Spiritual Grieving

Daily Jot: Spiritual grieving - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com

 

Over the weekend, I have had this sense of deep grieving in my spirit. This is something that I am not sure I should even write about because you may take it the wrong way. It is not the type of grieving over a loss of a friend. It is much deeper than that. It's grieving over the loss of a culture, a way of life. It is a deep spiritual grieving. Little things trigger it because they are signs of bigger things. For example, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck was booed Saturday as he left the field after news circulated that Luck planned to retire from football. It's not because I know Luck is a great guy, or because I'm a football fan, it's because of the way society has become-thinking that it's OK to boo a guy for retiring.

 

But that's, as I wrote, only a symptom of a greater disease. People in this country appear to have lost any form of manners or courtesy for others. The political landscape is a glaring example of this each day. The more outrageous the statement or insult against someone, the more it gets covered by a news media that is just as eager to hurl a negative sentiment at those who disagree with them. Look at the president, the congressional leadership, and the presidential candidates. They behave like school yard bullies, insulting and being insulted. There is no end to it. All the while, the problems and challenges that we face as a nation are left unattended and obstructed. What have we become?

 

Everybody just gets mad. As Christ prophesied in Matthew 24:12, "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." What bonds us together as Americans, that ideal of individual freedom, the work ethic, doing on to others as we would want done to us seems to have slipped through the airwaves and the data bytes on the internet. Everybody is just getting caught up in the fight, and the anger, and the finger pointing rather than finding ways to communicate and solve problems-or even just celebrate life. If we allow ourselves, we can get so wrapped around the axel of the issues that we cannot untangle ourselves.

 

Part of my grieving over the weekend was the realization that this nation, once boasting that 90%-plus were Christians, is now a nation where less than 52% will even claim they are members of a church. This is a huge indicator in the direction of society. The four walls of the church are becoming more and more irrelevant. Many are clubs. Many are servicing the self-indulgent, the emotional, and the extrabiblical while the world outside is dying a slow death. There are some who will say, "Well, this is the way it's supposed to be." Others will say, "God is in charge." Still others will say, "You need a break." Here's the thing: Christ challenged us to make disciples. It seems we are losing that challenge in our own freedom. In my grieving, there is prayer. The answer is that we need to change things up. And, I for one, will do that. Stay tuned.