Jesus says that there is problem with my heart. He says in the Sermon on the Mount that there is murder in my heart.... and adultery and deceit and hate and revenge. He says the problem is not with the laws against murder, sexual immorality, and perjury. The problem is anger and lust and selfishness and dishonesty. Jesus has no interest in changing laws. He wants to change hearts.
It is a lesson our country could learn. As I read the news, it seems like many people - especially politicians and political activists - really believe that the fundamental problem of our nation is that we do not have enough laws. Everyone's solution to every problem is passing more laws. And make sure those laws are well enforced.
Washington is a one hit wonder: More laws! Second verse: More law enforcement! Maybe we ought to make it our national anthem and sing it at baseball games. Or make it our national motto and put it on our currency: One nation under control.
The government - whether led by Democrats or Republicans - continually expands its control over more and more areas of life. It doesn't matter if it is Pelosi or Gingrich, Obama or Bush, the issue is still control - just over different areas.
Control healthcare, control marriage, control education, control spending, control the food supply, control the auto companies, control guns, control banks, control obesity, control smoking, control Iraq, control Afghanistan, control the climate, control the world, control, control. When everything is under control, then we will be safe.
But the real solution is not collective control over others. The solution is control over ourselves. But self-control is the one thing we cannot seem to do. Because the self that wants to be in control is out of control. And we know it. So we look to government to control our uncontrollable selves. But the government is just a collection of out-of-control selves. The result is out-of-control law-making and out-of-control spending.
The only real solution is a new self. We need self-transplants. We need new hearts, not better leashes to control the old hearts. Our democracy needs a Monarch. We need the Sovereign God. He is the only One who can do the spring housecleaning that our nation so desperately needs.
I pray the Lord sweeps us out of office next election year, and installs His government. "Then the government will be upon his shoulders.... And of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end."
It is a lesson our country could learn. As I read the news, it seems like many people - especially politicians and political activists - really believe that the fundamental problem of our nation is that we do not have enough laws. Everyone's solution to every problem is passing more laws. And make sure those laws are well enforced.
Washington is a one hit wonder: More laws! Second verse: More law enforcement! Maybe we ought to make it our national anthem and sing it at baseball games. Or make it our national motto and put it on our currency: One nation under control.
The government - whether led by Democrats or Republicans - continually expands its control over more and more areas of life. It doesn't matter if it is Pelosi or Gingrich, Obama or Bush, the issue is still control - just over different areas.
Control healthcare, control marriage, control education, control spending, control the food supply, control the auto companies, control guns, control banks, control obesity, control smoking, control Iraq, control Afghanistan, control the climate, control the world, control, control. When everything is under control, then we will be safe.
But the real solution is not collective control over others. The solution is control over ourselves. But self-control is the one thing we cannot seem to do. Because the self that wants to be in control is out of control. And we know it. So we look to government to control our uncontrollable selves. But the government is just a collection of out-of-control selves. The result is out-of-control law-making and out-of-control spending.
The only real solution is a new self. We need self-transplants. We need new hearts, not better leashes to control the old hearts. Our democracy needs a Monarch. We need the Sovereign God. He is the only One who can do the spring housecleaning that our nation so desperately needs.
I pray the Lord sweeps us out of office next election year, and installs His government. "Then the government will be upon his shoulders.... And of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end."
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1 comment:
Couldn't agree more. Lao Tzu says, "The more laws and order are made prominent, the more thieves and robbers there will be."
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