Economic Pain, God's Megaphone to a Deaf World
Tuesday, March 24, 2009 | Labels: Christian Living, Culture, Politics, Society | |With the financial strain on more and more individuals these days, God has opened a great opportunity for Christians around the world to proclaim their love. We often look at the world in the ways that it can benefit us. When everything is going well in our lives, it is easy to continue on in life without the necessity of dealing with God. As history has shown, God is aware of this problem, and often uses pain to solve it.
C.S. Lewis once wrote "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” - The Problem of Pain
With America's continued move away from a society that embraces God's wisdom, we find ourselves presented with the consequences of our lack of wisdom. For years, everyone knew the apathy that they had for government corruption and secretly enjoyed the worldly pleasures offered by our great nation. Those who saw the corruption and pain resulting from that life have been praying for our great nation. It appears that those prayers have been answered.
You see, when we ask God to free us from our vices - he does so in a way that many times causes us great pain. Pride is the ultimate hinderance to our recovery through Christ, and before he can begin to work in our lives - he must destroy the power that we think we may have over our hearts. Only when we admit we are powerless, and that we need him, will he begin to bring us back to where we should be.
"Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others. If everyone else became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest." - C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
In our pride, we have destroyed our desire to do God's work. We have replaced our purpose with the God of materialism - looking to our finances, homes and luxuries for ultimate happiness. We have positioned ourselves above our brothers in sisters in competiton with them. We cannot truly love another if we desire to be greater than them. That is why pride is the most dangerous of sins.
Rejoice in this time for our country. The world needs to come back to God. We have become a nation that boast that it needs no God. It is by this very sin that God destroyed the tower of Babylon.
I do not find joy in the pain that those are suffering in these times, but lets not let that pain go to waste. Jesus Christ can offer freedom from the pains, sufferings and fears of this world. We need only embrace his truths.
- Craig Chamberlin