House Burns Down

House Burns Down

Homeowners have burned down their house trying to rid it of snakes!

There are many reasons to be discouraged these days, from the rise of the omicron coronavirus variant to concerns that Russia is planning an invasion of Ukraine to the continuing tragedy of school shootings. America's cultural trajectory seems to be moving further from biblical morality every day.

However, Jesus still calls you and me to be salt and light, both of which must engage that which they are to transform (Matthew 5:13–16). As Nehemiah confessed the sins of his people though he had not participated in such sins personally (Nehemiah 1:5–7), so we are to stand in solidarity with our culture. We are to "seek the welfare" of our nation and "pray to the Lᴏʀᴅ on its behalf," remembering that "in its welfare you will find your welfare" (Jeremiah 29:7).

Unlike the man who jumped out of a taxiing Southwest Airlines plane at the Phoenix airport, we must not abandon the "plane" on which we are traveling. Unlike the homeowners who tried to smoke out a snake infestation in their $1.8 million Maryland home and ended up burning it down, our cultural engagement must not create a greater problem than we solve.

Unlike the motorcyclists who took the corpse of a friend out of its coffin and propped it on the back of a motorcycle for one last ride, we must not pretend that the lost people we know are not "dead in [their] trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1). But neither should we condemn them for being lost, remembering that "we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind" (v. 3).

Instead, we should be people of hope offering others the hope that has saved our souls and transformed our lives.