2020 has proven to be an iceberg. What we have seen, so far this year, is just the tip of the issue. Like an iceberg, the dangers ahead are more damaging and perilous than what many see. Once you hit an iceberg, the damage has been done and there is no going back to how it used to be. The 2020 iceberg is the competing ideology and kingdom of the world as opposed to God’s Kingdom.
The casualties in 2020 include relationships, community, and basic fellowship as people distance themselves from each other. It also includes the loss of civility, respect for differing opinions and tolerance. There seems to be a lot less freedom, period. I hope and pray that democracy and free speech survive. What else makes the casualty list depends on how each of us responds to what happens next.
For many basic freedoms to survive 2021, we need more than a new administration in Washington…Berlin, London and Brussels. We need divine intervention. We need the Holy Spirit to direct the agenda in our hearts and in the Capitol. If we don’t bring the Judeo-Christian Creator of the heavens and the earth back into our hearts and minds, the spirit and person of the anti-christ will soon take center stage. Biblical prophecy is not a conspiracy theory, it is truth. Truth is what and how God sees a subject, not what you or I deem it to be.
The culture and kingdom of the world is in constant flux but God’s people are supposed to reflect Him and His sovereignty, which never changes. The election should remind the world that God’s people don’t get depressed or excited depending on who gets elected OR whether you voted for the winner or loser. The Bible teaches that God expects us to ‘Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men…who are sent by him…Show proper respect to everyone…’ 1st Peter 2:13-17. It doesn’t matter if we find the office holder repugnant or not, our words and actions should be respectful. A lack of proper respect for the elected authorities shows a lack of respect and fear for God. We have been seeing a LOT of that.
Only God can straighten out this mess. We need more of Him and less of ourselves in the processes and moments of each day. John the Baptist summed it up succinctly, ‘He must become greater; I must become less.’ John 3:30. In order to navigate the remainder of this year and what’s coming in 2021, we need more of Him. The Bible is the key for answering all the questions and problems we will face. Practical stuff like responding to ‘friends’ that call you a racist…digital currencies…rising taxes…healthcare…stacking the court; you name it.
“: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.” James 1:19-20. The 2020 iceberg is the way of the world…and it doesn’t encourage quick listening, slow speech or less anger. The way of the world is to close your ears and eyes to anything that doesn’t confirm your personal bias or benefit…to quickly speak out and label things systemic…and to express your anger with harmful words and destructive actions. More of Him and less of me involves listening more, being slow to retort and not getting angry about, well, about everything you may hear. I have seen that anger and I have felt some for myself. It’s not good stuff.
Can the way of the world and God’s way just co-exist? Can’t we all just get along? Well, yes, but no. God commands His people to be set apart and to live as ‘aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires which war against your soul.’ 1st Peter 2:11. I feel that war when I hear anyone say that being white makes me a racist. God made me a white man. I didn’t chose to be white or to be a man, GOD made that choice and I was born with a skin color and sexual organs that made me what I am. Therefore, when I hear the systemic race accusation or the argument against only two biological sexes, I hear it as an accusation against God. I hear so much of the world’s rhetoric as the evil one telling mankind, and God, that HE has made the mess we are living in.
The 2020 iceberg facilitated a recent conversation with a friend about abortion. This conversation started along political lines but didn’t stay there. My friend argued that God’s word never addresses choice. The Bible repeatedly addresses the choice of murder AND it says that God ‘shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb’ Psalm 139:13. So, choosing to take away a life where God is busy forming one, looks like a wrong choice to me.
The world is good at pointing out the way God thinks and acts are not the same as ours. God put it bluntly, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.’ Isaiah 55:8. He finished it off with reminding us, ‘ “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” ‘ Isaiah 55:9. Only when you read the Bible can you KNOW God’s views on a subject.
2020 has been a tough year because it has been a stark reminder of the battle waging between the way of the world and the way of it’s creator…and the choices we are making between the two. As a Christ follower reading the Bible I am reminded, the Word says, ‘You adulterous people. Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred towards God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.’ James 4:4. This can’t be more simple or straightforward. God speaks about choice and says it is either one or the other. He says the choice is His way or the world’s way.
Meanwhile, the current mantra is telling me to go along and get along…or else I will be cancelled, my words not heard or printed and I will be cast out of society. On the other hand, the Bible says He’s got me. Jesus says HE will protect me and make me legitimate in HIS kingdom. ‘ “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” John 17:15-16. Jesus isn’t part of the cancel culture that is screaming so loudly. His Kingdom dates back to creation and lasts for eternity, so….
This past week I was reminded how easily the world draws me in…and how critical it is to separate myself from it and the people who live according to it’s ways. ‘Do not repay evil for evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.’ My ways can involve trading insults, talking trash and repaying evil for evil. From a worldly view, I used to be pretty good at it…until God changed my thinking.
His Word also tells me to actively seek peace, to pursue it. The Word tells me ‘Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others as better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.’ Philippians 2:3-4. The world may talk nice about compromise, tolerance and humility; but only when it is in the best interest of those in power. Otherwise, people can see these qualities as weaknesses to be taken advantage of.
Peter lived in a place and time where non-believers questioned why Christ followers acted the way they did. He reminded them and us to ‘Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience.’ 1st Peter 3:15-16. If no one is asking us these days, maybe our words and actions aren’t that different from the rest of the world? Have God’s people made their choice to reflect the world’s kingdoms and not the heavenly kingdom?
At the end of all this, the Bible is pretty cut and dried. There is God’s way and the world’s way…and they are in conflict with each other every day. The conflict is on the ballot when you vote. So regardless of your political choices, ‘If anyone, then, who knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.’ James 4:17. Ignorance is bliss when you don’t know what you should do or when you don’t know the truth…ignorance is bliss when you don’t know Jesus.
The iceberg is real and we have hit it full steam. Ignorance is not an excuse and we get new choices each day. Stay in fellowship with Christ followers who can help keep you accountable…who can encourage you and rebuke you when necessary. Share your faith but be careful teaching holy, spiritual concepts to those who won’t listen and just tear apart whatever we say.
The words in red speak volumes. ‘Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.’ Matthew 7:6. God bless you as we close out the year of the American iceberg.