Hope Sustains, Worry Doesn’t

Where do we go from here? The primary crescendo of hate began with the outcome of the presidential election in 2016.  It then festered as bitterness toward  one person. It has since grown to grip our entire culture.

The scary point is this is the way every revolution and degradation in the world has started. Do we have the morality and fortitude to stop it? The answer to that determines where we go from here. Are our institutions viable and resolute enough to foster a return to civility such as we once enjoyed? Pray that the answer to that is a hearty yes.

I ask the question regarding institutions because they are the voices that reach the masses.

In speaking of revolution Vladimir Lenin spoke of controlling two institutions. He said for a revolution to succeed it must take the high grounds of education and entertainment. Make your own assessment of these two areas of our culture. 

Yet, another factor in the success of a revolution, as with Nazism in Germany, is the wakening and eventually muting of the churches. Again make your own assessment of today’s churches and in what direction they are tending. In doing so consider what influence has the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel had on the spiritual vitality of church. Compounding that, are pulpits addressing the spiritual and moral decay of society?

The reactionary hate vented in Washington on January 6, 2021, has not gone away. It is still there smoldering quietly for a time. The counter cultural hate that burned our cities last year is dormant for a season, but still there. 

Has the rhetoric of many elected officials had a calming influence in society? Are political opponents and their followers vitriolically vilified? Who runs on their own merits not the amplified presumed weakness of their opponent?

Instead of torching each other we must become torchbearers of sanity, morality, and spiritual vitality. Not only does the last not have a broad base of advocates, it is a hush-hush topic. It is the only topic about which it is said, “Don’t offend anybody.”Offense has license in other venues. 

There is a broad base of support for the idea of personal stockpiling non-perishable foods for the conflict to come. That implies what direction those people think we are going.

Here is a novel idea. Instead of just stockpiling food, how about personally building a bounty of morality, virtue, civility, grace, and here it is again, spirituality. While not giving up on institutions, work on yourself and then them. Become an advocate for good.

If an organization of any kind insists on it working for the general good of society. There is bigotry and hate in every phase of life. Oppose the principles among all. Don’t simply become an advocate of some group. You can be assured there is a need for every group to be purged of impropriety. 

Remember that little tune: “It’s love, it’s love that makes the world go around.” Well if that wheel hasn’t stopped it sure has slowed dramatically. 

Now what? Keep the faith. It is good to be concerned. It is bad to get discouraged and start worrying. The ancient palmist wrote: 

“Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him.” (Psalm 42: 5)