Monday, November 14, 2016
It is sad to say but last Tuesday’s presidential election succeeded in widening the gap in our already divided nation. Even today, there seems to be more anger, bitterness, and resentment than ever before just about everywhere you go. Although it is troubling, to me it is understandable that there would still be such animosity among our citizen’s because of it. What bothers and distresses me, however, is that there is division in the family of God as well. The Lord’s people in the days of the Apostle Paul were not much different than us. By what he wrote to the church in Ephesus, it seems that, even in his day, something had arisen among them which caused them to be divided. That is why he pleaded with them in his letter with these words: “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” (Eph. 4:1-3)
To me, a life worthy of the calling in a Christian’s life, in a nutshell, is one where others can see some of the virtues of Christ in our lives. I supposed that we won’t always be humble, gentle, and patient, but if God’s Spirit lives within us, there will never be a reason for us to be the opposite of it. I’m not on Facebook myself, but I did see in one subscriber’s entries where professing Christians were tearing into each other over the election results. The losing side was venting their anger by accusing and name calling, exposing their bitterness, and the winning side by gloating, calling them “sore losers” and telling them to “grow up.” God’s people, aren’t we better than that? What happened to the Christian virtue of bearing with one another in love?
The votes were cast, the American people have spoken, and a winner was declared, but above all things, God’s will was accomplished. Can’t we accept that and move on? We won’t always understand God’s will, and we won’t always be happy accepting it, but I’m sure we can all agree that, above all things, He is in control. Even before we knew who would be our next president I was reminding my fellow believers that, in the end, God would decide who our next president would be and that He would place him or her in that position to either bless or chastise our nation. I choose to believe the former. Whatever it will be remains to be seen, but as far as today is concerned, we should all declare like David: “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Ps. 118:24 KJV) Make that your choice today! Make up your mind that today you will rejoice and be glad. To include an overused cliché, “At the end of the day”, you will be happy that you did.
God’s promise for today: (Philippians 4:7) “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
