Tears mean something. Have you ever been in church and see someone there quietly weeping and you see not what is moving in their heart? There are no loud sobs just a glistening tear making a slow track down a soft cheek. A wonder stirs your soul. What is happening? Sadness, longing, joy, pain, burden, delight, peace, God-Whispering? Could be anything...
So what has me in a soggy mess? I think it is love, burden, and Joy in my God that has been moving me to tears. I love the good ol' USA. I err on being overly patriotic. I express it in the colors I surround myself. I remember the cost and I remember the forefather's intent every time I sing the National Anthem. I know God's Blessing that is spelled out in the Old Testiment where He will be near the nations who God is the Lord. And yes, the Blessing that comes when you are a friend of Isreal. I don't want my America to be the biggest and the best of the world. I just what her to give and to be good.
I had a discussion in 2004 that has stayed with me. Someone from another country was questioning my passionate choice of President and even my loyality to a country as a believer. I just remember the question of sort and nothing else. It is 2007 and I still think about it so much that it has become a debate of sorts for me over country vs. Kingdom.
I will always have a very soft spot for my America. I will always strive to make her a better place by living peacefully as Paul told us in Romans. I want her to continue to be a gracious and good country. I want her to remain that way until He comes. I have a picture prayer from the Old Testiment. Remember Abraham pleading with the Angel of the Lord? He was asking for God to spare Sodom and Gamorrah if there was a certain number of those who feared the Lord. Abraham kept begging until he got down to 10. He thought he have covered the bases well to keep his nephew alive. As you know the there wasn't enough of those who feared God. The Almighty did allow Lot, his wife, and daughters a way out while He burned the two towns for their moral rot. Focus in on what happened to Lot's wife. She turned around to watch the towns burn. I am sure Lot pleaded and begged his family to keep looking straight ahead and obey God. No, it was too much. She turned and looked in that instant she was frozen into a pillar of salt.
Salt. I find it quite interesting. God's purpose for the believer is to live peacefully and to redeem the time. Short orders but hard ones to carry out. Redeeming the time was visually described as salt and light by Jesus in the New Testiment. A believer's life should be conducted in such a way that it brings flavor, trust, and preservation as well as limunation, sight, and clarity to those around him. Salt. I am intrigued. I wrap all my wondering thoughts around these two pictures ... the piller of salt looking back onto smoldering rumble of two sin-fest cities or salt preserving cities and countries around the world. What type of salt are you?
Shhhhhhhh, listen. Hear it .... giving freedom to others is huge and America loves an underdog but what is supreme over that is the giving of Salvation. A believer's country comes second to the higher calling of the Kingdom. Redeem the time. Make way for His Glory to shine... He is here to save and to love. He waits for all His lost sheep to come home.
For you brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. ~ Gal 5:13
Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. ~Phil 4:5
Col 4:5 & 6; Romans 13
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