Readings for today: Proverbs 27-29
I am often asked why there is so much violence and suffering in the world. So much anger and hate. So much corruption and greed. So much injustice and oppression. My answer is always the same. Our world suffers from a lack of righteousness. What we are seeing and experiencing is the fruit of wickedness. It is the fruit of a way of life that leads to death. The fruit of a self-centered, self-absorbed society. A society obsessed with self-promotion and self-gratification. It is the seed of the original sin coming to full bloom. “You will be like god.” This was the original temptation and the human race continues to not only fall for it but actually embrace it with each succeeding generation.
Is there a way out of the mess we find ourselves in? Absolutely! But it requires us to embrace Christ. To believe in Jesus and obey His commands. It requires us to seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness rather than our own. I love how Solomon puts it in today’s reading. “When the righteous become numerous, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.” (Proverbs 29:2 NET) Nothing could be more obvious and true. When a critical mass of good and righteous and godly people live in a community or a nation, that society is blessed. When a critical mass of selfish and greedy and corrupt and wicked people live in a community or a nation, that society is cursed. Certainly this ebbs and flows over time and no society is perfect. There is always work to do. Always evil and wickedness to root out. But when one looks throughout history and throughout the world today, one can see glimpses of what such a society can and should look like. William Wilberforce bringing an end to the transatlantic slave trade. Hutus and Tutsis reconciling in Rwanda. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948. The creation of public hospitals to serve the poor and sick throughout the Roman Empire by Basil of Caesarea. The fight for universal suffrage by people like Susan B. Anthony, MLK, and Sojourner Truth. All of these are examples of what happens when the righteous come together to advocate for change. And all of these are the fruit from the same root which is the Christian faith.
There is nothing Christians cannot accomplish if they band together to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Our problem is that we too often focus on the latter half of that verse. We want to make sure “all the rest will be added unto us.” So we fight and squabble among ourselves for power and privilege and wealth and influence. Meanwhile, the world around us continues to burn and the lost among us continue to lose hope and the least resourced among us continue to struggle. If only we could take our focus off ourselves and put it on Christ where it belongs. Fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, and do all we can to faithfully follow Him. Give all we have and offer all that we are in service to His Kingdom. Relinquish our will and our desires and our preferences and our desire for comfort so we might serve Him. What does it look like for you to prioritize God’s Kingdom and God’s righteousness in your life today?
Readings for tomorrow: Ecclesiastes 1-6