Greetings,
The news of recent weeks has been very revealing both here in the U.S. and abroad. It reveals a human mindset that is becoming increasingly sinister and depraved by the day. We’ve witnessed the legalization of homosexual marriage and its fall out – government-enforced penalties on those not accepting of this perversion. We’ve seen and heard camera footage of those who profit from the murder of unborn babies. We continue also to hear of beheadings and other gruesome acts committed at various places around the globe.
All these things and so much more have been brought to light – revealed – by the media. But possibly the most revealing thing about it all would be the reaction of each of us, individually, who have heard these news reports. God through Ezekiel said, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.” (Ezekiel 9:4) The problem is that there weren’t many who were sighing and crying over the depravity of the day. And that can only happen when one becomes calloused to what is happening around them.
So what has recent news revealed in each of us individually? I suspect that we have been sighing and crying over the depravities and atrocities, which go on around us and in the world at large. And that’s good, since it reveals the state of our heart. We understand that the “heart” refers to much more than just the mind, though that is a part of it. The heart is the inner self that thinks deeply, feels passionately and then decides on a course of action. That course can be either one of good or one of evil. Christ spoke of the down side when He said, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” (Matt 15:19) The opposite of this also holds true. We can hear the kind of news that we have recently and think deeply, feel passionately and then decide on the right course of action. We must never become numb to what is happening all around us. But that possibility does exist the longer we’re exposed to a depraved environment.
The Church of God has been in a fractured, scattered state for many years now. Do we sigh and cry over the walls and barriers of separation that afflict us today? Are we appalled at the self-centered competitiveness that constricts us? Or have we begun to grow numb to it? Our Father is looking for hearts that reveal deep thinking and passionate desire to make the course corrections that will lead to a healed church that is reconciled to God first and then to each other. What do our hearts reveal?
As we consider these sobering questions, let’s also remember that God has given us many good blessings to savor and enjoy here and now as we prepare for the dramatic intervention of Christ who will usher in the restoration of all things.
Sabbath services will be streamed from Duarte this Sabbath.
All the best,
Marshall Stiver