Who wants to re-learn an old lesson that you claimed to grasp, understand, and apply. One day the circumstances change and the tables turn. You realize, “I never really learned that lesson.”

“Don’t keep your eyes on people” was the lesson I thought I learned many years ago after a leader fell that wasn’t supposed to fall. It doesn’t matter why he fell or what he did. And that’s not the point.

For those of us on the outside who suffer as a result of another person’s actions, we can keep looking at the guilty culprit out of some type of allegiance if we want to. But where is the hope?

My wife and I were getting ready to officially join a church body that was exploding with growth. Then Covid-19 came. During the pandemic the senior pastor up and left the church permanently, the man we benefited from spiritually for the last three years.

A voice said, “Nelson, don’t keep your eyes on people.” How do I turn that voice off? Here I go again. “God, this is getting old.”

Let’s be honest. We want someone to look up to. We want someone to take care of us. We want someone on our side who believes like we do. A political savior.

Pastor Micah Fries posted the following statement on his Facebook page January 6, 2021: “As Christians, we have often been seduced by politics as our hope. Jesus alone can give hope. Engage in politics; and hope in Jesus. Politics makes an awful Messiah.”

Our soul longs for what the world can never provide but we act like it can. We smile on the outside and cry on the inside. Then one day we think we’ve found the answer and “man” disappoints.

Many fear the unrest in our country will continue and increase. I’ve wondered, “How will Christians suffer in the not too distant future?” The late Ravi Zacharias answered that question prophetically in 1998:

“I was startled at a meeting in Washington to hear one Jewish journalist make the comment that he thought Christians would be the Jews of the twenty-first century. Why did he think so? Because there is little doubt that no other major religious voice in the world cries out for people to deal with sin, to repent, and to come to God for forgiveness. Hate and anger vented against the Christian gains momentum when a society wants to live life without restraint.” (Cries of the Heart pg. 99)

And here we are. We drank the Kool-Aid that 2021 was going to be magically different at the stroke of midnight. As of this writing, we haven’t even got through half of January.

The beauty of fostering an intimate (one on one) relationship with the living God, is it doesn’t matter ultimately what happens religiously, politically, and medically.

Religiously, Jesus is the only way to God as offensive as that is to many. (John 14:6)

Politically, Jesus is the King OF Kings. (Revelation 17:14)

Medically, Jesus is the Great Physician. (Matthew 9:12)

We’re the biggest fools in the universe if we don’t crack open our bibles and read how God sees things. I may not die due to Covid-19, but many have, and you and I are gonna die of something.

So thinking logically, if God is eternal, doesn’t it make sense to seek His face while we live in a world that’s falling apart-overnight?

Maybe you’ve backed away from social media for a season to re-group. Why not respond to the inner cry that God put within you?

pictures courtesy of pexels.com except for book cover courtesy of “Nelson & his Nikon”