I am not suggesting we bury our heads in the sand and ignore what we see happening around us. We are supposed to be alert (Ephesians 6:18, I Peter 5:8) and as wise as serpents but harmless as doves (Matthew 10:16). We should be salt and light (Matthew 5:13-16).  What does this mean?

First, we remember that our God is good, all the time. He is sovereign, which means He is in control of everything that happens. That is not to say that God causes everything to happen, because God cannot cause evil. However, God does allow bad things to happen because somehow He mysteriously is able to use it for His eternal glory and to bring about His plan. Probably because He knows what we are going to do before we ever do it. Take the story of Joseph for example. He was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers who had considered murdering him, and later was wrongly imprisoned after being falsely accused of attempted rape.  Clearly bad stuff happened to Joseph. But did Joseph focus on the circumstances? He focused on God and God’s plan. After joyfully being reunited with his brothers many years later, Joseph said to them, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result [to save lives].” (Genesis 50:20)

Do we believe as Joseph did, that what others mean to do, which may seem harmful to us, God may use for good to save lives? Let’s be clear, this doesn’t mean God condones, approves or causes harmful behavior and choices. Or that we are free to engage in whatever wrongful thoughts, words and actions we want because we rely on God’s ability to use bad stuff for some good eternal purpose. That’s known as cheap grace. Christ didn’t suffer on the cross and bear the sins of the world so that we could go on living our own way, apart from God’s way. God graciously and mercifully forgives. But forgiveness requires a heart that repents. (Acts 2:38, 3:19; 8:22)

Second, knowing God is good all the time, do we trust Him? Do we live like we trust Him? Not merely talking about it, but actually living out God’s truths and promises so that our lives are living proof that God is good and we trust Him? Sounds great, but how do we do that? How do we live like “salt and light” when we see the culture war taking place right in our face, in our marriages, our homes, our schools, our churches, and our government? Paul says if we have all the words, gifts, knowledge, and faith, but we don’t have love, we are nothing and gain nothing. Nothing, without love. (I Corinthians 13:1-3).

So how should we respond to what we see happening in the culture war around us? Keep our eyes focused on Jesus. Know God. Know His Word. Be alert. Speak truth. But most importantly, live a life of love for God and for others. After all, isn’t this what Jesus told us are the two greatest commandments? “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39)

Focus on Jesus.

Having said this, I was recently provoked to deeper thought about proposed government run health care after receiving an email sent to me by a friend and after reading a blog posted on August 19, 2009 in the Wall Street Journal which was titled, “Obama Tells Religious Leaders Health Care Is a Moral Issue.”

“President Barack Obama joined a health care conference call with religious organizations just past 5:30 p.m. this evening, and didn’t waste a moment before putting the debate onto a higher plane: ‘The one thing you all share is a moral conviction. You know this debate over health care goes to the heart of who we are in America,’ he said.” Read more here.

Is health care a “moral” issue? I suppose it could be, if we turn to the government to provide for our needs instead of turning to God for our needs. Consider Genesis 47:13-27.

Below is story circulating on the internet.  It may or may not be apocryphal. The point is the sermon’s simple message is worthy of prayerful consideration. By the way, to avoid any misunderstanding, I want to make clear that just because I am sharing this story,  I am NOT claiming Obama is Pharaoh. 

IS HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF?  

Sermon from a church in Virginia recently
Gen 47:13-27

Good morning, brothers and sisters; it’s always a delight to see the pews crowded on Sunday morning, and so eager to get into God’s Word. Turn with me in your Bibles, if you will, to the 47th chapter of Genesis; we’ll begin our reading at verse 13, and go through verse 27.

Brother Ray, would you stand and read that great passage for us?
 
Thank you for that fine reading, Brother Ray. So we see that economic hard times fell upon Egypt, and the people turned to the government of Pharaoh to deal with this for them. And Pharaoh nationalized the grain harvest, and placed the grain in great storehouses that he had built. So the people brought their money to Pharaoh, like a great tax increase, and gave it all to him willingly in return for grain. And this went on until their money ran out, and they were hungry again.
 
So when they went to Pharaoh after that, they brought their livestock – their cattle, their horses, their sheep, and their donkey – to barter for grain, and verse 17 says that only took them through the end of that year.  But the famine wasn’t over, was it?

Obama’s theory is the earlier children begin formal education, the better chance they have to compete in the global economy. However, a 2005 Stanford University study found, “attendance in preschool centers, even for short periods of time each week, hinders the rate at which young children develop social skills and display the motivation to engage classroom task.” According to a report by the Southwest Policy Institute, “Contrary to common belief, early institutional schooling can harm children emotionally, intellectually and socially, and may later lead to greater peer dependency.”

Child psychologist, David Elkind, has researched early education and written several book on the subject. He found pushing elementary academic education into the very early years of a child could actually have lasting harm on children, putting them at risk for short-term stress and long-term personality damage, especially hindering social development.

Obama’s Zero to Five Plan encourages less parental involvement and more governmental involvement in child development because preschool will be offered for free. Who do you want indoctrinating our babies and toddlers? Parents, let’s not abdicate parental responsibility to the state, which has become increasingly hostile towards Christianity. Instead, let’s spend more time together with our children, teaching them biblical truth (Deuteronomy 6:4-7). Children, parents and society will all reap the benefits.

In May 2008, in the Marriage Cases, the California Supreme Court struck down Proposition 22, a statute that had defined marriage as between a man and a woman. This allowed same sex couples to marry. However, in November, the people of the state voted to amend its constitution to restore the traditional definition of marriage by passing Proposition 8. This essentially “constitutionalized” the earlier marriage statute. Many people were left perplexed as to how the state’s highest Court could have allowed same sex marriage to begin with. Great legal scholars have debated the issue. So, how in the world are every day people supposed to understand the Court’s ruling? In September 2008, I gave an interview to Marriage Matters To Kids in an effort to give a simple explanation to a complex and complicated Court ruling. The interview can be found at: www.marriagematterstokids.org/stewart.html.

Proponents of same sex marriage argue that same sex couples have a constitutional right to be treated as equally as opposite sex couples, specifically the right to marry. And without this right to marry, they argue, they will lack dignity and respect and be treated as second class citizens. “Dignity” and “respect” are noble words. However, what same sex marriage advocates really want is not so noble. To be clear, even without the right to “marry,” same sex couples were already afforded substantially all the same rights and benefits as traditional marriage couples under the law in California [cite law]. Obviously by demanding dignity and respect, what they really want is to force opponents of same sex marriage to accept it, even if it violates their deeply held religious beliefs or rights of conscience.  Special treatment for a “suspect class” based on sexual orientation leaves no room for disagreement. This conflict has resulted in a greater legal and social problem, competing interests between sexual liberty and religious liberty.  Even once the California Supreme Court resolves the current attack on the recent Marriage Amendment (Prop. 8), the conflict between sexual liberty and religious liberty will not be resolved. I predict until the U.S. Supreme Court has addressed the issue of  the alleged “right” of same sex marriage, the conflict between sexual liberty and religion liberty will only increase.

Marriage matters. For the sake of our children. For the sake of society. For the sake of our future.

Now, can you imagine the sight and smell of old, moldy bread?  Now, can you imagine old, moldy bread so rotten that it crawling with maggots?  Just the thought can not only take away your appetite, it can make you feel rather sick.
 
In Exodus 16, God teaches us that while His children wandered in the desert for 40 years after He delivered them from captivity in Egypt, He sustained them with all the bread they needed to eat–fresh bread each and every morning. It was called “manna” and tasted like wafers made with honey. But the manna was only good for one day. The day after, it was full of maggots and began to smell.  Except on the Sabbath.  Miraculously, the manna did not decay on the Sabbath.

God sustained His people with manna, which neither they nor their fathers had known, to teach them that man does not live on bread alone but on every Word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.  (Deuteronomy 8:3) Dust off this Old Testament teaching and meditate on these living, breathing words because God still sustains His people with the Bread of Life, the very Word of God.

Amazingly, Jesus tells us he is the Bread of Life, claiming, “Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.  This is the bread that came down from heaven.  Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.” John 6:57-58.

So the question is—are we feasting on the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ?  Are we feasting daily or are we trying to sustain ourselves by living on yesterday’s manna, or last Sunday’s manna, which if not yet rotten, smelly and decayed, is at the very least old and stale? Living on old manna makes us weak Christians. We need fresh manna, fresh bread, daily for God to sustain us. We need the Bread of Life, the very Word of God, Jesus Christ, every day.

How committed are we to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior who died so that our sins would be forgiven, so that we would be covered by God’s undeserved grace? Are we prepared to devote time every day to spend time with Him, studying Scripture and communicating through prayer?  Jesus is worth that, and so much more. Come, let us feast together on the Bread of Life.

“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Matthew 6:21.