This weather looks like my heart feels. It just feels so heavy, sinking really, for our country. I watched this video last night after I had scrolled through the latest headlines. While it’s a funny take on the state of the union, it’s not really funny, right?
We live in a broken society with a broken system in a broken world and all the public policy in the universe won’t be able to “fix” us. (Ever been to the DMV or wondered why UPS and FedEx can be profitable organizations but the USPS can’t?! Our government has yet to prove that it can do anything with excellence.)
We need Jesus. We need our Congressmen and women to need Jesus. We need our Senators to need Jesus. We need our President to need Jesus. We need people to lay aside their pride and be willing to humble themselves for the greater good instead of their party or for the instant gratification of “what can I get for myself for ‘free’ TODAY.” We HAVE to look further down the line than just 2013 or 2014 or even 2020. What kind of financial decisions are we making today and how will they impact us in 10 years? 20 years? 50 years? We HAVE to look past the short term and towards the long term. This is one of the plights of our society; we all want everything that makes us happy and we want it NOW. Who cares what that looks like in 10 years – I’m living in today and that’s what matters. Uh, no. We live in community, not a vacuum; every choice I make affects someone other than me and vice versa, and those effects can be felt today or 20 years from today. We have to look past the short term and towards the long term.
It’s not JUST the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) that needs to go revision. It’s our budget, it’s our gun legislation, it’s our social security system, it’s our abortion laws, it’s our tax laws, it’s our prison systems, it’s our welfare system, it’s our farm subsidy system – it’s our government, in general. Now, I’m not saying I want it to be perfect. That’s a completely unrealistic goal because it won’t ever be – see paragraph two. But I do think they owe it to the people to function as designed. It was created to be FOR the people and BY the people; it was created to ensure that we weren’t subjected to tyranny ever again…and dare I say, we’re close? And we’re partly to blame.
We can’t keep just handing over right after right after right to a broken system. The return on our input will be broken. And we? We will be a people who got something in the short term that didn’t really benefit us because it didn’t benefit us in the long term. We can’t continue to keep the mentality that, “someone else will say something” or “this is so wrong/off/ridiculous/out of line, surely it won’t pass” or “we’re so far gone, who cares.” We have to take a stand for our freedoms so that we can continue to have those liberties.
I don’t mean to sound like Debbie Downer here. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE America and I praise the Lord that He chose me to live here but we HAVE to make choices to continue to ensure our rights are protected. There is no freedom when you’re saddled in debt. (I’ve been there. I would know.) There is no freedom when you have no free will or choice. (Read the Word. It’s pretty clear about that). There is no freedom when when you don’t EXERCISE that right to free choice. We can’t stand idly by and think that someone else will fight for us.
I encourage you to take a stand today. Write an email or letter to your senators/congressmen and women. Let them know how you feel about what’s going on in Congress and with the Affordable Care Act and with other legislation. Encourage them to think about the long term effects of the decisions they are making. Inspire them to make decisions that unify us and not divide us. They may not receive, or respond to, your messages until after the shutdown (sigh) but let your voice be heard regardless.
Nebraskans, find information to write your Senators here: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?State=NE
And here’s contact information for your Congressmen: http://www.contactingthecongress.org/cgi-bin/newseek.cgi?site=ctc2011&state=ne
Coloradoans, find information to write your Senators here: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?State=CO
Congressmen, here: http://www.contactingthecongress.org/cgi-bin/newseek.cgi?site=ctc2011&state=co
Above all, pray for our nation. Pray for our President. He has a BIG job, yes? Pray he does it well; with humility, common sense, respect, unity, mercy, grace, forethought, thought for the future, thought of our kids. He’s a broken, sinful, self-deceiful human being just like his Supreme Court, just like his Congress, just like his Senate…just like me. And just like me, they need Jesus. He IS the only answer, the only “fix,” the only policy or legislation that can repair the system. Pray we choose Him.