When you turn the news on most of the stories are about how our nation is filled with racism, hate, corruption, violence, and protests. Emotions are running wild — on both sides! So how should we, as believers in Christ Jesus, react.
We see much of our great country in a state of unrest and trouble. The mass media and many of our leaders seem to pander to the radicals and those promoting the unrest. So many are left confused as to exactly what is happening and what the truth is.
There is a legitimate concern as there has been an undeniable history in this country of people being oppressed. Yes, we have come a long way in treating others fairly. But that is not to say that we have arrived at being completely free of hate and violence.
However, we also see that our current situation is being taken advantage of by those claiming the cause of racism, and using it as an excuse to loot and riot. They commit unlawful and immoral acts. So we see extreme reactions on both sides. The big question is “why is all this happening?”
In order to answer this question, we must find the “core” issue. The core issue isn’t racism, or systematic corruption. The core issue isn’t people taking advantage of the situation to satisfy their own greed. The core issue isn’t rioting and looting. We must look to God’s Word for answers. Paul addresses the issue in Romans chapter 1.
The core issue is that many live their lives without God! Yes, they may give “lip” service to Him, but do not live according to His will. For years we as a nation have progressively been taking God out of our lives. We’ve removed scripture from public places and have taken God’s Word out of schools. We have focused on how special and important we are as individuals but fail to give glory and credit to our creator. We have shut God out of our nation, and consequently, he has given us up to our sins.
Paul tells us in Romans 1 that there are consequences to our sins. Because we fail to give God the glory and fail to live by His word, we become like those Paul was using as examples. He said: “they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Rom. 1:21). Then he says, they “exchanged the truth ...
