American is a divided country. We live with never-ending debates over what can be done. The right believes the left is destroying the historical moral fabric of our country. The left believes the right is preventing the historical progress of widening the constitutional rights to all Americans. Everyone has an opinion, and everyone believes that it is the correct opinion. It is one thing to argue over sports teams, or influencer’s opinions, but arguing about the ideas and consequences that can harm or help citizen’s life and family is so much more serious.
Many people feel helpless to change the course and direction America is moving toward. Everyone wants to have input into the decisions being made. Many people are seeking a strong person to enforce their ideas for the future and the roads we will traverse. Some want a leader who can kick ass and force everyone to behave. Some want a leader who empathizes with the needs of the marginalized or suffering. Some want a leader to mediate between opposing perspectives and make the wisest decision for all. It can be so complicated. How do we decide who knows the answers that works and improves what is wrong in American society? How do we even agree on what is wrong?
Throughout the centuries there were great leaders to correct the course of history. Many did great things to bring better lives to people in their time. Others destroyed much of the world around them. Our founding fathers possessed a vision of a society without royal, kingly, or dictator type control and greater freedom for many. This idea of freedom and democracy has spread through much of the world. Sometimes bringing peace and goodness to a county. Other times creating a new type of strong leader who can manipulate the process and seize control to do harm.
There are people who do not want all the power to control others but want the freedom to bring new ideas into a society. Martin Luther King Jr, and Rose Parks were such people. They experienced the suffering of people like themselves and struggled to make changes. Dietrich Bonhoeffer saw the complicity of the church in Germany. He preached a difficult message and tried to lead his country in a different direction. But it took World War II to correct the evils Bonhoeffer saw.
Joseph McCarthy was a senator in the 1950s, who sought to expose the communist influence in the State Department, CIA, the Army and other institutions. His version of investigation included destroying reputations through indiscriminate allegations and unsubstantiated charges. His name became a byword for government overreach and witch-hunting against imaginary enemies. Most Americans consider this time in our history as a stain on America’s freedoms, judiciary fairness, and government authority.
Not all strong and outspoken people are improving our society. Some are deeply misguided. Seeing ghost and goblins where hard working Americans are trying to contribute to society. The question becomes: How do we know the difference from fighters of true evil and danger verses misguided battles that destroy without improving anything or bringing about good works? How can we know the end results from the beginning efforts? How do we know where evil hides among us?
It is difficult to judge the present. It is so much easier to look back through history and preach on the mistakes of others. But today is different from yesterday or the last century. Even though we recognize the mistakes of the past, we tend to forget and repeat what was done before. We seem to be on this never-ending hamster wheel of understanding, acknowledging, forgetting, and repeating.
Of course, I always bring up the fact that Jesus is the Truth. Relying on him is the only solution to any confusion. But when people in the church of 1940’s Germany were supporting a rising evil, how do we know our version of Jesus is the good version and not another delusion of reality.? When people in the church want to start a holy war for Jesus to return morality to America, how do we know they are wrong or right?
Knowing that Jesus is the son of God, and the Truth is not enough. In James 2:19 it says, “even the demons believe there is a God, and shudder.” We need more than simple belief. We need to make time to discover who God is, and what he wants from us. We need to spend time praying for wisdom from God, and time reading the Bible to learn what God said in the past and what he is still saying to us today. We need to learn how to trust Jesus and let him lead us.
In the Old Testament God declares himself the one who knows the end from the beginning. Isaiah 45:9-10, “Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’”
Proverbs 2 reveals the benefits of wisdom and knowledge from God. If we search for wisdom and insight as though we are searching for hidden treasure, then we will have understanding and wisdom from God. For the Lord gives wisdom, knowledge and understanding to those who seek it. God’s wisdom will save us from the ways of wicked men, who walk on dark paths. Instead, we will walk in the ways of good and keep to the path of righteousness. If we regularly read and pray over Proverbs 2, we will learn more about God and his ability to keep us in his ways and away from perversion, wickedness, and those who delight in doing wrong.
Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.”
We must choose how we spend our time. We choose the ways of the world for our entertainment, news, knowledge, and solutions or we choose to spend time with Jesus in prayer and Bible study. One way leads to destruction, the other to eternal life.
According to the Pew Research Center, roughly 65% of Americans considered themselves a Christian in 2019. Of these roughly 45% read the Bible at least once a week, and 33% never read the Bible. If we assume the 35% of Americans who do not call themselves Christians never read the Bible, and 33% of Christians never read the Bible, then roughly 56% of Americans never read the Bible. Less than 30% of American read the Bible several days a week.
How are we to know the truth, if most Americans are not reading the Bible regularly? How can we improve American society and reduce the divisions and turmoil without reading the Bible? Do we really believe that our thoughts and opinions are better than God’s as revealed in the Bible? Do we think there is a strong man or woman who can help us better than the eternal, all knowing, and loving Almighty God? Have we become so arrogant that we no longer need God?
Let’s look at what the Bible tells us about the arrogant.
Isaiah 2:10-12, “Go into the rocks, hide in the ground from the fearful presence of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty! The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled and human pride brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.The Lord Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled),”
Psalms 75:2-4 says, “You say, “I choose the appointed time; it is I who judge with equity. When the earth and all its people quake, it is I who hold its pillars firm. To the arrogant I say, ‘Boast no more,’ and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horns. Do not lift your horns against heaven; do not speak so defiantly.’”
Malachi 4:1-3 says, “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty.”
1 Timothy 6:17 says, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” If American Christians think we can ddo things pleasing to God without reading the Bible and developing a relationship with Jesus, then we are arrogant. We are not only walking into failure, but we are heading toward destruction.
We do not need another human to lead us and be our strong man that will fix everything. We in the church have the strongest, wisest, and most capable man of all who is willing to help us. We have God, the Almighty One. The one who knows everything and is willing to give us all we need. We only need to practice spending time with him, reading about him, listening to him, and trusting in him. We need to redirect ourselves back to God. Back to the only solution that exist: GOD.
A couple of books that can help you deal with any arrogance or pride that you possess.