How to Live in Today’s Time of Judges

Do you feel like you’re living in a time when everyone does what’s right in their own eyes?

I do.

It’s like déjà vu. “Doing right in their own eyes” describes the darkest chapter of Israel’s history. (See Judges 17:6 and 21:25.)

Naively, I thought our country’s divisiveness wasn’t as bad as mass media portrayed it to be. Until I experienced it firsthand.

Judgmentalism ugliness

I tried a comment on social media—not to take sides but to suggest a more thoughtful approach to a certain issue. Mob mentality ripped my words apart and extrapolated them to the nth degree of misinterpretation. People’s hate- and intolerance-driven defamation of me for the sake of defending their position was horrific.

At a time when our nation so desperately needs reconciliation, will those kinds of people initiate it? Highly doubtful.

It’s up to us.

That’s not fair.

But neither is grace.

Whose side?

I cringe when I hear people say, “God is on my side.” Everything about God is pure and holy; He doesn’t take sides. We should be concerned that we are on God’s side—and that our actions reflect it.

Whatever happens with the election, I believe Christians will be sifted and called to a level of commitment most people have never before experienced.

Tough questions

So, tough question time. In the face of oppression, will you be able to say:

• I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart (Psalm 40:8).
• Let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light (Romans 13:12 BSB).
• Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you (Matthew 5:44 NKJV).

I don’t know about you, but it’s easier for me to pray for enemies overseas than enemies in my back yard.

Yet that’s exactly what we must do.

Can you and I relentlessly push back against darkness? As David Jeremiah said, “It’s tough to be in the dark and not let the dark get in you.”

Despite what may come, our sovereign God’s missive doesn’t change. “Be strong … Work! For I am with you, declares the Lord of Hosts … My Spirit remains among you; do not be afraid” (Haggai 2:4-5 BSB).

No room for darkness

Paul emphatically tells us to “cast off the works of darkness” and “put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:12 NKJV). His intentional choice of verb for “cast off” (apotithémi) means to decisively and permanently give up—forever renounce—all things that are not of God.

Then we are to “walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy” (Romans 13:13 NKJV).

That verse is particularly telling. Paul lists two examples of public sins but twice as many examples of private sins. Again, that’s intentional. Private sins are more dangerous because they hide in our hearts. We can rationalize that we don’t need to be accountable for sins that others can’t see.

We can cloak private sins in flawed human logic and misplaced calls for tolerance—while condemning those who don’t think like we do.

Friends, I make a point not to get political. But today our core freedoms are at stake. No one agrees on how to deal with the country’s economics. In the scope of voting, that’s a gray area. But other issues are lines in the sand.

Accountability regardless of cost

Our jobs make us accountable to our boss. Ultimately, we are accountable to God. I plead with you to vote according to what God—not man—says about the issues at stake.

Whatever happens, let us commit to the following:

• I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart (Psalm 40:8).
• Let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light (Romans 13:12 BSB).
• Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you (Matthew 5:44 NKJV).

In Christ’s holy Name. Amen.

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TWEETABLES

SONGS TO MEDITATE ON

Praise You In This Storm  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCpP0mFD9F0
The Voice of Truth  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwsvqVmFV6Y
Bigger Than This  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abZxjgz89Hk
Sovereign  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMTG13qVY3g