My Rant

I’ve gone on a couple of Facebook rants over the past few days. I didn’t wake up thinking, “I’m going to rant and rave today.” Instead, it just kind of flowed out – like pressure being released from tiny holes in my finger-tips before the pressure caused my head to pop up and steam began scrambling from my upper orifices – reminiscent of the release valve on those old-timey pressure cookers.

I suppose I could make this blog a mea culpa – if indeed I felt I went too far – but in reality I’m not sure I went far enough.

We have a multitude of serious problems plaguing the world that my daughters, nieces and nephews are growing up in. The worst part of this is that only one side of the culture war appears adequately poised for the conflict.

I believe there are a lot of people like me who don’t like war in any manifestation. I think most of us naturally crave peace. The problem is that when one side invades while the other side lays down, it always ends in one of two ways; death or slavery. Perhaps not physical death, but death to the things we value. Perhaps not the chains-and-whips kind of slavery, but slavery to the ideologies and whims of those who have seized power, instead of being limited to the authority granted by the people they govern.

I know that Facebook is not the greatest forum for serious discussion. It’s actually difficult to find somewhere that is now days. We have nurtured a culture of seeking answers while avoiding truth. We have encouraged narrative without context and advice from those without understanding. We treat all opinions as valid regardless of how absurd, and we have become so open minded that our brains no longer properly function as gatekeepers of discernment.

I believe we have embarked on the very days Paul warned his young protégé’ about,

“You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!” (2 Tim 3:1-5 NIV)

Regardless of my sense of timing, I cannot leisurely wait for God to take care of it all. Before Jesus ascended, He made His orders very clear in His Luke 19 parable, “Stay busy until I come.” One translation uses the word, “occupy”. Our Genesis mandate to govern our world has not changed.

The wise King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 3:8, There is “…a time for war and a time for peace.” The immortal words of my fellow Virginian Patrick Henry keep ringing in my ears:

“Gentlemen may cry peace, peace – but there is no peace. The war is actually begun!… Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!”

Father grant us boldness to fight the battles worth fighting, grace to persist in the midst of persecution and discernment to know when to rest. Amen.