Category: Hard issues

Be the Leader you Want to see

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land~ 2nd Chronicles 7:14

 We live in an age of bizarre contradictions. Some are amusing, others are puzzling, and a few are rather troubling:

 For the first time in human history places exist where it is possible to be both overfed and undernourished.

 Most organizations striving for equality for women refuse to recognize the right of unborn woman to actually be born.

 Those who report spending the most time “connected” to social media sites are also the most likely to report feeling “lonely” and “disengaged” from others.

 Leadership is another arena of inconsistencies and absurdities. A recent and rather hasty Amazon search for “leadership books” netted a whopping 185,460 results. Leadership seminars and conferences have become virtually ubiquitous and every high school student in America is required to take at least one leadership class in order to graduate. Leadership is the current buzzword and yet good leaders are getting tougher and tougher find.

 The sad state of leadership in our culture is most clearly seen in the political realm. Many of the “leaders” who are running for President tell lies on a fairly consistent basis. Few are above stooping to dirty tricks to win an election. One frontrunner will likely be indicted on federal charges and the other is being sued for fraud. Few of the officials who presently hold office are any better. Almost none of them have done what they promised to do; fewer still are humble enough to own up to their lack of accomplishment.

 The political realm is not the only arena where leadership is sadly lacking. Both male and female teachers are frequently dismissed from their positions for having sex with the students they are paid to lead. Sports, movie, and music icons are eager to take the material blessings and notoriety that come with celebrity. However, few are prepared to use those blessings to benefit others or lead kids in a wholesome direction. Some of the vilest offenders of common decency have stated categorically that they “are not role models.”

 Leadership is an issue in many churches as well. There are an appalling number of Christian leaders who live lives of duplicity, preaching love and righteousness from the pulpit and mistreating people or viewing porn when they think no one is watching. However, incidents of obvious sin are not the only issue creating chaos in our churches.

 Many “leaders” in our churches are so averse to saying anything that might possibly be construed as offensive, or hurt someone’s feelings that little of substance is actually said. Christians have bought into the lie that it’s the Holy Spirit’s job to do ALL the convicting and challenging.

 Conviction, or the awareness that we have done wrong, is the natural outcome of exposure to spiritual truth (Acts 26:20, 2nd Timothy 4:2). Too many churches seem to have set the bar at simply transforming sinners into nicer people, rather than leading them to a radical change of thinking about life and God that leads to repentance and transformation.

 It is simply a fact that the Holy Spirit is the only one actually capable of truly transforming a person’s heart and mind. However, Christians have an obligation to give Him something of substance He can work with as He does the work of persuading people of their need for change.

 The muddled state of leadership in our world ought to give us all pause. If history is repeated and it usually is our future world will likely be rather grim. Typically following a period of corrupt leadership and cultural anarchy, strict, autocratic and sometimes even fascist leadership rises from the ashes of cultural decay.

 It’s not too late. Change is still possible, but it won’t come easy. Christians need to be the leaders they want to see. We cannot be anything or do anything of any substance without God’s leadership, help and mercy. It is time for Christians everywhere to to pray and seek the face of God. Don’t pray that God changes the world; rather, pray that He changes us so we can change the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How Christians Should Not Vote in This Election

Lisa M. Price2 Comments

When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan~ Proverbs 29:2 ESV

 Our country has come to a place the founding fathers never imagined in their darkest of dreams. Unless the political winds shift quickly, this presidential election will likely be the strangest in our history. Bernie Sanders, self-confessed socialist/communist; and Donald Trump, reality television star/wealthy mogul, will be going toe-to-toe for the most powerful job in the world: President of the United States of America.

 Take a moment and let those words sink in. It’s unlikely either outcome will be pretty and neither can happen without the support of Christians.

 Our first option is the Senator who clearly lacks even a rudimentary understanding of how large economies work. Bernie’s fondest wish is to raise the tax rate on EVERYONE. We are told there is no need to worry because Bernie will reallocate all resources collected in a more “objective” and “equitable” fashion. Under his leadership the same government that is incapable of providing adequate medical care for military veterans (a relatively small percentage of the population) will be deciding who gets how much of pretty much everything.

 The alternative will be Trump, a full-grown adult with the temperament of a toddler. Donald was busy this week. He vowed to sue one of his rivals for producing a negative ad consisting entirely of video clips of his past statements. A day later he called the Pope “disgraceful” and said he was “going down” for criticizing his views on immigration. Trump stated repeatedly this week that he believes spiritual leaders do not have the right to criticize or correct what people believe. If that statement does not scare you, you have literally dismissed all rational thought.

 Many Christians intend to or have already voted for one of these two men. Many believe for whatever reason, that it is wrong to choose not to vote for anyone based on Christian principles. They have decided that Christian values should be consigned entirely to the private sphere of life. Those who support this view inevitably quote Luke 20:25 to justify their belief:

 Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s~ Jesus

 Context is key here. Jesus was not telling His followers they should never use biblical standards when considering a political issue or candidate. I suspect Jesus would have thought the idea that anyone should not apply biblical standards to any subject absurd.

 The question at hand in this passage was whether or not Jews were obligated to pay taxes to the Roman government. Period. Jesus was not telling his followers to abandon reason, so they could vote for some yahoo completely lacking in decency or sense just because they promise something the voter wants.

 In Matthew 22:37, Jesus tells his followers to love God with their intellect as well as their emotions. For that reason it is critical that Christians contemplate the character and conduct of a candidate when they consider whom to vote for. Anyone who promises to do a good thing that is not achievable or sustainable from a fiscal perspective is either dangerously ignorant or deliberately dishonest. He’s as bad as Trump who proudly tells the press he could shoot someone on the street and people would and should still follow him. Both should be rejected on the basis of character.

 It is critical we remember God promises that ALL people (Christian and non-Christian) will give account for all their choices, including those made in the voting booth (Romans 14:12, Hebrews 4:13).

 It’s time for Christians to get a firm grip on their feelings and stop wishing for more of the immediate change that helped propel us into this mess. We must accept the fact that the right candidate is not the person who proudly spouts vile, sinful things we sometimes think and shouldn’t. Nor is it the candidate who makes promises he cannot deliver without taking significant resources from the people who actually worked for those resources.

 The right man or woman is the person with enough humility to admit that the problems we have are too big for one person to fix alone. A true leader will be courageous enough to remind us that we all bear some responsibility for the mess we’re in, rather than tell us what our itching ears long to hear (2nd Timothy 4:3-4)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Six Reasons it Would be Stupid to Waste a Christian Vote on Trump

Lisa M. Price1 Comment

A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit~ Matthew 7:18 NASB

 Regular readers of this blog may have noticed I rarely delve into political issues. I have many political opinions and I certainly don’t have a problem sharing those opinions. However, one of my principal objectives in life is to keep the main thing the main thing, whatever that thing may be. In the case of this blog the main thing is Jesus, not my insignificant little political opinions.

 That said, ultimately all of life is spiritual, and there are times when the spiritual and political intersect. Such is the case with the 2016 presidential election. 2016 is without question the strangest political primary I have ever personally witnessed—possibly the strangest on record.

 Experience is a dirty word. Being loathed by anyone even loosely linked to “the establishment” is ballyhooed as a badge of honor. As a result the outsiders are now the insiders and every political analyst on the planet is face palming right now. It’s been a wild ride and we have yet to cast a single vote.

 Then there’s the Trump thing. The candidate who began as a punch line has become the odds-on favorite. Trump is leading in nearly every poll and his endorsements are piling up. Some Trump enthusiasts make a strange kind of sense. It came as no shock to this blogger that Charlie Sheen, Jesse Ventura, Mike Tyson, Dennis Rodman and Tila Tequila all threw their support to Donald Trump. Like attracts like. I get it.

 Other endorsements make far less sense. Mega-Church Pastor Robert Jeffress, Willie Robertson and Jerry Falwell Jr. are respected, intelligent Christians who have all formally or informally endorsed The Donald.

 I have come to believe that many in the Christian community have lost their way this political season. We could very well find ourselves choosing between a geriatric communist and a loudmouthed reality television star this November. That scenario will not happen without evangelical votes. It’s not my business to tell anyone how to vote. That said, I feel an obligation to share why I believe Christians would be wise to reconsider a Trump vote.

 Trump doesn’t even pretend to be a nice person-

 Trump is a bully. He mocks the handicapped and criticizes women he views as unattractive. If you want to see a display of classic mean-girl maneuvers, take a peek at the ABC interview where Trump tells the reporter “nobody likes Ted Cruz” because “he’s a nasty guy.” Trump regularly shreds anyone who opposes him. Imagine what his level of spite and pettiness will do for democracy and civil discourse.

 He acts like a toddler-

 Maturity and willingness to tackle tough situations are the foundation of strong leadership. Trump skipped out on a debate because he didn’t like (felt intimidated by?) one of moderators. Need I say more?

 Trump thinks way too much of himself –

 Trump’s promise to single handily make America great again encapsulates his pride. The Bible is clear that arrogance, pride and absence of humility are dangerous traps, especially for leaders. Pride blinds folks to the obvious and opens them to deception. Trump’s ego is so out of control that he is doomed to be a victim of deception.    

 

The press wants him to win-

 Two acrimonious divorces, innumerable flip-flops, four bankruptcies and a tongue he is clearly unwilling to control. Trump is the definition of a target-rich environment. Every other candidate has been scrutinized to the point of absurdity (Rubio’s finances, Carson’s books, Cruz’s citizenship, etc.). Yet none of Trump’s issues have been discussed in any detail. I understand how irrational and crazy-town this sounds, but I believe that many in the media want Trump to win. If he secures the nomination it will be easy to discredit him; at that point it will be too late for conservatives to choose another candidate.

 He’s playing us-

 Trump freely admits that he is not, nor has he ever been, a spiritual man. But out of nowhere he’s dropping God bombs and lugging around a Bible the size of a smart car. He’s quoting “two Corinthians” really badly, and swearing up and down that when he’s elected, “everybody will say Merry Christmas”. Trump obviously believes evangelicals are stupid and easily fooled. God help us all if his theory is correct.

 He is either a deceiver or he has no idea what he believes –

 He was for partial-birth abortion; now he’s pro-life. He was pro-immigration, now he wants to build a wall. He was for single-payer insurance; now he’s not. Trump’s flip-flopping is more than mere political evolution, as some have suggested. It’s indicative of a man who will say anything to get elected.

 I do not know what the Christian community sees in Donald Trump. It’s possible that the Church has been worshipping at the altar of worldly success for so long that we have forgotten what God’s definition of success is. It could be that we have given up on getting a godly leader, so now we are willing to settle for any leader we see as tough. It’s possible that some of us have lost our ability to think biblically about secular issues.

 Whatever the reason, the time has come for the people of God to get on their knees and pray like crazy for this country and the people in it. It’s time for those who call themselves Christians to think about life and politics from a spiritual perspective rather than a worldly one. If we refuse, we will get the leader we deserve, and if that happens we will have plenty of time to repent of our foolishness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trust me-God’s Got This one

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

 

Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze~ Isaiah 43: 1-2

As a rule I am not much of a worrier.

However. I am definitely not someone who has conquered worry through spiritual efforts. Rather, my inclination to avoid excessive worry is strictly practical. I have learned the hard way that worry wastes time, squanders energy and has the power to change precisely nothing. I am an outcome-oriented person cursed with a bit of a lazy streak. Consequently, I typically avoid any activity that does not ordinarily result in some sort of payoff. Worry does not achieve any sort of tangible outcome. As a result, I typically don’t worry about all that much.

 Until recently.

 Over the last few weeks I have found myself worrying about all sorts of strange issues at the oddest times of the day and night. From a strictly commonsense perspective, some of these worries actually make sense.

 When we put our house up for sale almost five months ago, the market was solid and houses in our area were selling at a steady pace. Within what felt like minutes of putting OUR house on the market, it dried up. Only a handful of properties have sold in our area since August. My husband and I have been living apart for months and the arrangement is getting expensive.

I worry the house will never sell.

 My husband has been subsisting on microwaved popcorn and cold cereal for months now. I worry he will develop scurvy or beriberi or some other rare nutritional deficiency. My handyman skills are rudimentary (to say the least) and so all the chores my husband normally does are not getting done or they’re not getting done properly. I worry the house will fall down on us while we are sleeping. Our eleven–year-old has began to revert back to some old behaviors recently. I worry about how all this is affecting her. I worry about moving in the middle of winter, I worry we won’t move until spring or summer or that we will never move. God has provided through this whole stupid mess but that hasn’t stopped me from worrying my head off about money.

 And those are just the worries that actually make some level of sense. The really weird stuff hits me hardest around three in the morning. That’s when I worry about how the dogs will adjust to the move, global politics, scary viruses becoming airborne, fiber and if we are getting enough of it and whether or not I remembered to shut the garage door. Once I exhaust those worries I move on to questioning every choice I’ve ever made and then I wonder if painting the entire house a different color will make it sell faster.

 The other day I came across some much-needed encouragement from an unexpected source. The seventh and eighth chapters of Daniel recount some rather peculiar dreams that foretell some unsettling future events. The implications of the dreams are at best a bit creepy and the content is so strange that it has kept scholars and theologians debating the deeper meaning of the text for centuries.

 It was not the content I found helpful. It was the context. Daniel recorded his dreams at a point in history that was both personally and politically chaotic. He was a slave who had served as an adviser to one king (Nebuchadnezzar) for all of his adult life. Nebuchadnezzar was not a great guy. He was a brutal narcissist with a capricious streak. That said, he was also a capable leader, teachable and had over time he had developed a healthy fear of Daniel’s God. Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson Belshazzar had proven himself to be an even more erratic and cruel leader than his granddad without the leadership abilities, teachable spirit or fear of the Lord.

 I believe God gave Daniel a peek into a future he would never live to see, in the midst of what had to have been of the scariest times of his life, to remind him and, by extension, all of us. That God has this. Whatever it is, God has it. God has our future tightly in His grasp. Nothing surprises Him. He has whatever is keeping you up at night too. Whether it’s a house that won’t sell or a health problem or a job loss, or a kid that has gone off the rails, or something even worse.

 God’s got it and He has you too.

What We Have to do to Solve the Syrian Refugee Crisis

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

Do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight, preserve sound judgment and discretion; they will be life for you~ Proverbs 3:21-22a NIV

 The terrorist attacks that began last week in Paris did more than simply prove once and for all that the Middle East is not at all like Vegas. What happens there does not stay there. Their problems eventually become our problems.

 The Syrian refugee crisis is not a new issue, nor is it confined to Syria. Christians, Jews, Yazidis and some Muslims began fleeing Afghanistan and Iraq when ISIS gained a foothold in those countries after the United States military pulled out of Iraq in 2009. The Syrian conflict that began in 2011 enlarged ISIS territory and drastically increased the number of refugees seeking asylum. To date, at least twelve million men, women and children have sought protection from the carnage and genocide in the Middle East.

 The recent terrorist attacks have complicated the situation. Prior to the Paris attacks President Obama agreed to admit ten thousand refugees into the United States. When it was discovered that at least one of terrorists involved in the Paris attack entered France by posing as a Syrian refugee, the U.S. and other countries began rescinding offers of asylum. And now the fate of every Syrian refugee hangs in the balance.

 There are two positions regarding the refugees: some are compassionate, some are cautious. The cautious folks (many of them Christians) feel that allowing anyone from the Middle East into our country for any reason increases the risk of a terrorist attack on American soil. The cautious make the case that the economy is far from recovered, and refugees would put additional pressure on an already stressed system.

 They also point out that our government has an established record of incompetence when it comes to virtually every task imaginable. Most do not believe that the Obama administration should be trusted to adequately examine the backgrounds of thousands of people fleeing a war-torn country with little or no identification. Many coming from this perspective are willing to allow refugees into the country eventually. They just want some guarantees that the emigrants allowed in will be self-supporting and will not be entering under false pretenses to wreak havoc on American citizens.

 The compassionate folks (many of them Christians) believe that America is a big, generous country with many of resources. Therefore America ought to help whoever needs it. They believe that because the process to enter the U.S. takes eighteen to twenty-four months the risk of terrorists entering the country is relatively small.

 These folks point out that many, if not most of the refugees are Christians who face certain death if returned to their country of origin. The compassionate recognize the hard truth that any one of us could find ourselves in the same position as the refugees and ask what we would want done for us if we found ourselves in such a horrific place.

 Both the cautious and the compassionate have valid points. The refugees do need help, the United States should be a part of the solution, and at least some of the refugees likely pose a genuine threat to U.S. citizens. However, both the cautious and the compassionate entirely miss the larger issue.

 They forget that these refugees did not appear out of thin air. Cold-blooded adherents to a bloodthirsty death cult drove these people from their homes because they want to create a country of their own, a country where they make the rules. The religious whack-nuts responsible for the refugee crisis have enslaved countless innocents, beheaded Christians and Jews, thrown homosexuals from buildings, disfigured the faces of women and routinely rape boys and girls as young as eight. These animals cannot be reasoned with because they are, by their very nature, unreasonable beings.

 Finding a solution to the Syrian refugee crisis is going to require more than compassion or caution. It will require action on the part of Western nations, including the United States. The refugees need to be placed in safe zones (preferably in Europe) overseen by the United Nations while Western nations band together to accomplish the only truly humane option for these folks.

 We must annihilate ISIS and give the refugees their countries back. Sending refugees to Europe or bringing them to the U.S. appears to be a compassionate course of action but in actuality it only delays unraveling the real problem, which is the existence of ISIS.

 No one in his or her right mind WANTS our country to fight another war in the Middle East. Wars are expensive and there have been far too many fought on that real estate in recent years. That said, this is not a pointless war; it is a just war and it’s worth the cost. It’s time to act like grown-ups and deal with the reality we have, not the one we wish we had. ISIS and their ilk will not stop unless they are stopped. It is up to Western Nations to put an end to the madness before the poison spreads. What happens in the Middle East does not stay in the Middle East.

 

 

 

 

Winning back the Younger Generation-

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in obedience to him and keep the commands, decrees and laws he gave our ancestors~ 1st Kings 8:58

  Monday morning just as I was preparing to leave Facebook and go do something productive with my life, a question popped-up on my newsfeed that I almost ignored.

It was a religious question and as a general rule I avoid getting involved with religious inquiries on social media. The questions are typically stupid and the people asking seldom ask out of pure motives. As a result those questions tend to veer into debates that devolve into quarrels that inevitably end with me searching frantically for a legal outlet for my pent-up rage.

 However, this particular question was a very good question. I knew the answer and someone I like asked it in a respectful and sincere manner. So, I fired off a hasty response assuming that would be the end of it. Rather, it was the beginning of a one of the more thought-provoking conversations I have had in a long time. One question led to another and then a few of the original questioner’s friends (all millennials) chimed in with related questions and thoughts. A plethora of differing opinions were shared but the entire discussion remained very courteous and civil.

 I emerged from Facebook ninety minutes later, drained, but armed with what I believe are some answers to a question that has been plaguing the modern Church for the better part of a decade:

 Why are millennials leaving the church?

 For years, Church leaders have suspected too many rules and a focus on doctrinal issues have bored and offended millennials, causing them to seek in a less restrictive religious environment. After my discussion with a half dozen or so random millennials this past week I am beginning to suspect our assumptions are at least partially incorrect.

 The millennials I interacted with do not seem to have an issue with the notion of God having rules. In fact I got the sense that most of them believe that IF there happens to be a God (most are still very much undecided) then it would only make sense that He would have at least a few rules for His people to follow.

 They do have questions about which rules ought to be followed (Old Testament? New Testament? Both?). They also want some sensible explanations as to why they ought to follow the rules. It’s clear that most millennials are not blind followers; they want to know the why of everything before they buy into anything.

It’s also clear that they do have an issue with the lack of consistency they see in the lives of Christians and the lack of uniformity they see across denominations. More than one individual stated that it looked to them as if individual Christians just decide for themselves which rules they want to follow depending on the situation. 

Yikes.

 They also seemed to feel that most Christians were very quick to apply rules regarding sexual behavior to others (homosexuals) but not so quick to apply rules regarding divorce and other forms of sexual sin (adultery, pornography) to themselves and other Church members. They seemed to be genuinely baffled and repelled by the hypocrisy of those double standards. As a result, they have a tough time reconciling the actions of Christians with the teachings of the New Testament.

 I was most surprised by those millennials who grew up in Christian homes who appeared to be unfamiliar with what most would consider basic Christian teachings and doctrine (sin, Jesus, forgiveness, repentance, the Old Testament, etc.). One mentioned later in a private message that they stopped attending Church because they never really learned anything there. A good number also expressed frustration that no one in their church growing up would answer questions regarding what they saw as discrepancies between science and the Bible. Rather they were encouraged “to just believe”.

 The Christian community is on the threshold of losing a large portion of an entire generation. It’s possible to get them back, but it will require extraordinary effort from all of us. First, we need to restructure our thinking and let go of the absurd post-modern notion that no one really cares about doctrine or apologetics anymore. We also need to help our youth understand they “why” behind God’s directives. Intellectual laziness and “just believe” twaddle will not fly with a generation accustomed to getting their questions answered in seconds via Google.

 Intellectual development is imperative but it will only take anyone so far. Revival and spiritual renewal is crucial. However, it must come through a movement of the Holy Spirit, not spiritual fakery. The Holy Spirit works in situations where God’s people are seeking to be obedient to God all the time, not pretending to be better than they really are in an effort to impress others while still hanging on to sin. It is time for God’s people to pursue true holiness—not the weird, superficial legalism Christians are so easily pulled into.

When we do those things, they will return.    

The Real Root of Our Problems

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

They rejected God’s decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors and the statutes he had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, “Do not do as they do.” 2nd Kings 17:15

 Last week I and millions of other Americans watched in horror as the news of the day unfolded. The story has become depressingly common. Another bloodbath at another school in another sleepy little town where no one ever dreamed anything that awful could happen.

 There were no actual surprises in the details. The killer was another socially stunted loner from a broken home with few friends or ties to his community. Gun hoarding, collecting war memorabilia and hating appear to have been his only hobbies.

 The only aspect of this story more foreseeable than the details of the killer’s life was the reaction from politicians and pundits. The accusations and calls for change commenced before the bodies were counted. The anti-gun guys predictably blamed easy access to guns. The pro-gun guys blamed a lack of armed guards on campus. Politicians insisted that more laws will solve everything and physiologists blamed the breakdown of our mental healthcare system.

 Everybody is talking but no one is asking the one question that really needs to be answered: Why is our society devolving at such a rapid pace?

 A mass shooting is technically defined as a shooting where four or more people are shot or wounded in a single attack. There was not a single reported mass shooting in America in the year 1915; in fact, mass shootings were practically unheard of prior to 1963. As of today, there have been 298 mass shootings this year. For those keeping count, that is more than one shooting a day so far in 2015.

 America is and has always been a country of gun owners. Statistics are unobtainable, but it seems safe to assume that more Americans owned guns in 1915 than in 2015. It’s also patently absurd to argue that it was somehow more difficult to acquire a gun a century ago than it is today.

 It is demonstrably true that our mental healthcare system is in serious trouble. Good counselors are tough to find and even tougher for many folks to afford. An obviously deranged lunatic can only be committed after he or she actually hurts someone. Doctors hand out prescriptions for medications no one truly understands with little follow-up on those taking powerful, mind-altering drugs. All that being said, it’s still fanciful to argue that the mental healthcare available a hundred years ago was somehow superior to the mental healthcare available today.

 Stricter laws sound like a reasonable no-hassle solution to our problems. But truth- be-told, there are already plenty of laws governing gun ownership. However, lawbreakers have a vexing habit of simply disregarding the existing laws and because past behavior is always the best predictor of future behavior; it’s fairly safe to assume criminals would simply ignore any new legislation.

 Blaming guns, laws or the mental healthcare system for shootings and other social problems is naïve and misguided. If we continue to blame things rather than people, we will commit societal suicide because we cannot solve problems we refuse to see.

 It is fashionable to blame guns, laws and shoddy healthcare for the problem of gun violence. It’s also intellectually lazy and irrational. If guns, laws or healthcare were the problem, the same problems would have existed a hundred years ago. The real problem lies squarely at the feet of the individuals in our society. Individual people build societies, and our society is generating an increasing number of individuals who have no conscience and who place zero value on human life.

 The problems began when we decided as a society that we could have morality without God or fixed standards of right and wrong. Gun violence is just one symptom of the societal breakdown that was triggered by our makeshift morality and the irrational social engineering that has followed.

 If as individuals we want real and lasting change, it is critical that we stop looking to politicians and pundits to solve our problems. Their well-intended “solutions” limit freedom and do nothing to solve the real problems.  

It’s time we start looking to God.

 

 

 

 

 

What do you do When the Right Decision Gets Difficult?

Lisa M. Price1 Comment

Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us~ 1st Peter 2:12

 Years ago my husband and I made a decision. We knew from day one that the decision would have life-altering consequences for every member of our family. Because the stakes were so high, it was not something we decided quickly or lightly.

 We prayed about it and debated the pros and cons (1st Thessalonians 5:17, Ephesians 6:18). Sometimes into the wee-hours of the night. We sought the counsel of our Pastor and the advice of some Christian friends (Proverbs 13:20). Then, just when it started to feel as if we had discussed the whole issue to death we started the whole process all over again.

 Once we got to the place where we were ready to pull the trigger and make the decision we were both fully convinced that it was indeed the right decision. It was the kind of decision that is easy to feel good about. It was noble and well intended. And although we didn’t do it to get the approval of other people, we did get a lot approval and that made us feel even better about our decision (Ephesians 2:10).

Life was good and we felt good about the choices we were making.

 Then life got hard.

 Really hard. Harder than I have words to describe. Every single one of the difficulties we were experiencing could be traced directly back to that one little decision that we had once felt so good about. The struggles we experienced during that period drove me to behave in ways that are not characteristic of me at all. I became weepy, indecisive, short-tempered and churlish. I found myself spilling our story to unwitting strangers and begging shamelessly for guidance from anyone who would hold still long enough to listen.

It’s almost a give that I made a lot of people super uncomfortable. 

 The low point in that awful, horrible year was the day I discovered that the weird and excruciatingly painful rash I had on my lower back and arms was shingles. My physician (not an empathetic woman) informed me in an extremely self-righteous and judgy tone that shingles are brought on by stress in people my age. She proceeded to give a long and rather callous lecture on the importance of proper stress management. I have never felt more judged in my life.

I cried all the way home.

 The good news is that dreadful day marked a turning point in how we chose to deal with the situation. I realized, after an abundance of prayer and a great deal of thought that I did not want to go back and unmake our decision (James 1:2-4, 1st Peter 1:6, Romans 2:7). In my heart of hearts I knew we had done what God wanted us to do. I also recognized that attempting to undo our choice would resolve nothing and would in fact only add to the heartache.

 We did decide to stop whining and make the decision right. We made the situation a matter of constant prayer. We sought wise counsel, introduced a series of really tough changes and worked our tails off to embrace a more positive attitude. Nothing magically transformed, but over time our situation did improve dramatically. I am pleased to report that today things look and feel totally different than they did on that awful day when I cried all the way home. Feelings are never the best way to gauge reality; that said, I can truthfully say we feel good about our decision once again.

 At one point or another all of us face a good decision that appears to have gone terribly wrong. In those moments it’s easy to jump to the conclusion that the difficulties we are experiencing are proof that we got it wrong and we need to undo whatever decision we once felt good about. Human beings appear to be hardwired to believe the lie that easy is always good and hard is always bad (Galatians 6:9).

 Buying into that lie guarantees that we miss out on the blessings that can only be born out of hard work and sacrifice. It also keeps us from reaching a level of wisdom and maturity that can only be attained through problem solving and coming out the other side of tough situation truly victorious. Giving up and turning back also guarantees we will never really be Jesus to those who need it most (Hebrews 13:16). 

 I have learned over the course of the last few years that oftentimes the very best choices are the ones that involve a level of sacrifice, pain or hard work to make them doable. When the going gets tough is not the time to give up and throw in the towel. It is the time to double down on the choices God called us to make and trust Him to see us through to the other side (Hebrews, 6:10, Isaiah 49:14-16)

 

 

 

We Are the Message

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God~2nd Corinthians 5:20

 This past Sunday afternoon I encountered a situation I literally cannot remember facing at anytime in the recent past. I returned home from a trip and handed the book I had just finished reading over to my son. It did not take long to discover that I was completely out of books to read.

 For the average person this discovery would barely be worth noting. I am not the average person when it comes to the written word. I am a book hoarder. I stockpile books with the same zeal a prepper planning for the apocalypse squirrels away ready-to-eat-meals and ammo.

 However, my stockpiling tendencies were recently curtailed when my husband politely suggested that I might want to consider reading the books I already had before I purchased or borrowed any more. I dutifully agreed to his plan, which ultimately led to an online quest for some used books.

 As I was perusing the available selections I ran across a nonfiction title so intriguing I was inclined to purchase it before I even read the description. It is not a Christian book, but You Are the Message by Roger Ailes could easily be a Christian title. The title is in fact such a Christian concept that I’m thinking it would be wise to write those words on my forearm every morning before I leave the house and plaster sticky notes with that message in conspicuous places. It’s that critical.

 It is a message the early church understood and embraced. They understood that people are God’s most valuable method of communication to a fallen world. As a result they were willing to do things and embrace hardships modern day Christians are sometimes reluctant to even consider. They were also more tuned into key truths than we are today and their understanding made them much better messengers than we are. These truths are:  

 Christians are supposed to be just a little weird

 The latest fad in Christianity was displayed in a Buzzfeed video that recently went viral. The video opens with several attractive, articulate young adults proudly declaring that they are Christians and then smugly rejecting Christian morality. The remainder of the video is spent passive-aggressively mocking all the bigoted chumps who are silly enough to assume that the Bible and two thousand years of traditional church teaching is something to be taken seriously. Sadly, these views have become a part of greater movement within the church world. It is easy to dismiss this effort as nothing more than the folly of a few well-intentioned but misguided souls. It’s more than that; at the root of this movement is an adolescent fear of being branded “different.” We want the benefits of saving faith and the adoration of people who don’t understand or like the teachings of Jesus. This feat cannot be accomplished without disconnecting Christianity from its historic moral teachings. Unfortunately, Christianity deprived of its virtue is just a feeble self-help program and a colossal waste of time. We might as well sleep-in and go to brunch on Sunday mornings.

 God knows more than we do-

 With all of the developments in science and technology in recent years, it’s easy to forget that if history is repeated, half the stuff we “know” to be true today will be proven wrong tomorrow. Our knowledge and understanding of the world is finite and has certainly not surpassed God’s. Because of His superior understanding God gets to be judgmental sometimes. When we find ourselves at odds with biblical teachings God is not the one who needs to adjust His thinking, we do. It’s time to embrace this truth rather look for a way to run from it.

 The point of salvation is change-

 God loves people just the way they are. He does not require anyone to become perfect in order to earn his mercy. God also knows that people are not okay just the way they are. God loves people so much that He forgives their sin (all they have to do is ask). He then graciously empowers them to change and become the people He calls them to be. This change is called repentance and it is not optional; faith without repentance is a cheap reproduction of the genuine article.

 The message we are called to be to our broken world is deeper and richer than the one we have been sending. There is more to God than our one-dimensional, feelings-centered view of the faith. It’s time believers get back to the understanding that when God’s people are living out His standards, they are not being judgmental or mean; they are living the message.

 

 

 

The Fragile and Sometimes Fleeting Power of Influence

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil~ Ephesians 5:15-16

 Unless you have spent the last week on another planet, you have likely heard that Josh Duggar reality television star and former spokesman for the Family Research Council has confessed to something that is best defined as serial infidelity.

 Mr. Duggar was forced to own up to his actions when a security breach revealed he was a longtime member of the website Ashley Madison. Ashley Madison is a business created for the singular and skeezy purpose of facilitating adulterous affairs. The hacker is believed by many to be a bitter spouse whose assumed domestic tranquility was shattered by Ashley Madison. I was reminded as this little narrative unfolded that God is still in the business of seeing to it that folks reap what they sow.

 My initial response to the scandal was sorrow. I was heartbroken to learn that yet another high-profile Christian leader was caught living a life of almost absurd duplicity. Adultery is a terrible sin. Signing up for membership with a website that exists for the purpose of helping people commit adultery is the most inexcusable form of premeditated sin there is. Josh Duggar compounded his many sins by falsely presenting himself to the world as a paragon of Christian virtue and an authority on traditional family values while sleeping with strangers.

 This is a tragic situation. I do not know, nor am I fit to judge the state of Josh Duggar’s heart or the condition of his soul. I refuse to go there.

 What I do know is that that Josh Duggar was blessed with an abundance of the most valuable gift any Christian can be given: influence. He squandered his influence in a series of astonishingly bad choices that has wrecked devastation in some obvious and not so obvious ways.  

 There are countless victims caught in this foul mess. My heart goes out to his wife. That poor woman is caught in the unenviable position of having no really great choices at this point. Whatever she chooses to do will be tough and painful. It will also be judged as incorrect by a whole lot of people who have never walked in her shoes.

 Then there are his Mom and Dad. Whatever missteps they may have made as parents, no one really deserves the level of parental humiliation they are experiencing. The folks at Family Research Council have their own set of issues thanks to Josh Duggar. They gave a kid a job and now they are left to dig themselves out of what can only be described as a public relations nightmare.

 Then there are the not-so-innocent victims in this mess. It is difficult to muster compassion for the women Josh Duggar had sex with. Nonetheless, they are human beings made in the image of God with eternal souls. It is unlikely any of those women will repent and turn to Jesus after one of God’s spokespersons behaved in such a hypocritical and ungentlemanly fashion.

 Perhaps the most hapless victim in this whole ugly mess is the average Christian who is just doing his or her level best to serve God, bless others and live a righteous life. Being salt and light in this world just got a whole lot harder for these folks. All thanks to the actions of one person.

 The Bible depicts Christians as a body (1st Corinthians 12:27). This means that essentially Christians of all types are a single unit made up of many parts (people). Because Christians are, for all intents and purposes, a single entity, when one Christian sins it makes all Christians look bad. Christians look really bad right now.

 Sadly, Josh Duggar is not the first believer in recent years to fail morally. He is one of many on a long list of Christians whose behavior has reflected badly on Jesus and other Christians. I do not know what specifics led to Josh Duggar’s downfall. His upbringing, easy access to pornography, the declining culture and lack of personal accountability have all been mentioned as possible contributors.

 I suspect the real issue is twofold. First, he got into the in the routine of concentrating most of his spiritual attention on outward appearances and behaviors rather than inward thoughts and attitudes (Matthew 23:25). It is also possible that Josh Duggar bought into the popular but erroneous notion that because God forgives sin, sin is without actual consequences for a Christian.

 Few are blessed with the kind of opportunities to impact the world that Josh Duggar was given. However, every Christian has spiritual influence over someone. We can lose that influence in the span of one bad choice when we forget that one consequence of sin is loss of positive influence. If we want to keep our influence, we have to be willing to give us much attention to inner thoughts and attitudes as we do to outward appearances, and have the guts to tell ourselves “no” sometimes.