Things We Christians Can Do To Help Our Country (Part 3)
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8, NIV)
We saw already that in order to help our country we need to obey traffic rules, throw our trash properly and pay our taxes. This checklist may sound trivial to you. But if we can’t be trusted with small things, we can’t be trusted with big things.
In order to help, we must also speak positively about our country. The trend nowadays is to focus on the negative, to dwell on the bad things that are happening in our nation.
The Bible commands us to “think about… whatever is true… noble… right… pure… lovely… admirable… excellent or praiseworthy.” I am not saying we ignore or deny our plight. But we are to keep thinking about “the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.” (The Message)
One way of doing that is to be proactive. Whining about how bad our economy or our political situation will not solve the problem. We are just compounding it. An optimist sees a solution in every problem. A pessimist sees a problem in every solution. Let us be optimists. When the boat is sinking, you don’t sulk that there are no oars. You use whatever you can to row towards dry ground. Let us not just complain about the lack of discipline on the road, for example. But, instead, let us be disciplined ourselves.
I like what columnist Cal Thomas wrote in his Shedding Light in Dark Places. He lamented that Christians “spend too much time throwing stones… and too little acquiring and developing the skills and knowledge to allow them to compete in the ideological and cultural arena. Light dispels darkness and good can overcome evil. But a light won’t shine if it isn’t lit and cursing the darkness illuminates nothing.” [1]
In other words, let us not just say something but do something! And the best way to do something is to pray for our country (1 Timothy 2:1-4). Instead of spending time complaining, we should be praying. We could accomplish more by praying than by pouting. When we are tempted to say something negative, bring it to God. When we see something positive, point it out to others and praise the Lord.
Brethren, let us dwell on the positive.
[1] http://www.townhall.com/columnists/calthomas/ct20050207.shtml
We saw already that in order to help our country we need to obey traffic rules, throw our trash properly and pay our taxes. This checklist may sound trivial to you. But if we can’t be trusted with small things, we can’t be trusted with big things.
In order to help, we must also speak positively about our country. The trend nowadays is to focus on the negative, to dwell on the bad things that are happening in our nation.
The Bible commands us to “think about… whatever is true… noble… right… pure… lovely… admirable… excellent or praiseworthy.” I am not saying we ignore or deny our plight. But we are to keep thinking about “the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.” (The Message)
One way of doing that is to be proactive. Whining about how bad our economy or our political situation will not solve the problem. We are just compounding it. An optimist sees a solution in every problem. A pessimist sees a problem in every solution. Let us be optimists. When the boat is sinking, you don’t sulk that there are no oars. You use whatever you can to row towards dry ground. Let us not just complain about the lack of discipline on the road, for example. But, instead, let us be disciplined ourselves.
I like what columnist Cal Thomas wrote in his Shedding Light in Dark Places. He lamented that Christians “spend too much time throwing stones… and too little acquiring and developing the skills and knowledge to allow them to compete in the ideological and cultural arena. Light dispels darkness and good can overcome evil. But a light won’t shine if it isn’t lit and cursing the darkness illuminates nothing.” [1]
In other words, let us not just say something but do something! And the best way to do something is to pray for our country (1 Timothy 2:1-4). Instead of spending time complaining, we should be praying. We could accomplish more by praying than by pouting. When we are tempted to say something negative, bring it to God. When we see something positive, point it out to others and praise the Lord.
Brethren, let us dwell on the positive.
[1] http://www.townhall.com/columnists/calthomas/ct20050207.shtml
Comments
Post a Comment