The Divided States of America?

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Scripture: Mark 3:24-27 (NIV)

 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. 27 In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house.

Devotion:

          Our precious nation may be on the verge of fracturing. A new poll from the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics shows we are a nation badly divided along partisan lines. For example:

  • ·         Over 80% of Trump and Biden voters say that elected officials of the other party present a clear and present danger to American democracy.
  • ·         More than 70% of voters on both sides of the aisle believe that extreme media voices of the other party should be censored.
  • ·         Over 75% of voters believe that the other party threatens the American way of life,

          I could go on, but you get the point. Americans do not trust those with whom they disagree politically. As the selection from the Gospel of Mark cited above clearly states our situation is a recipe for disaster. Jesus, is in fact, recorded in the gospels of Matthew and Luke saying very similar words. Those gospel writers apparently were prompted by the Holy Spirit to record these words because they were and are much needed in this world.

          I believe that the Christian Churches of all varieties in America are no better off than society in general with regard to division between members. The church has followed the culture into ways of division instead of leading culture in the way of unity. This is not just a modern church problem. The pages of the Bible are filled with examples of first, the nation Israel, in the Old Testament, and then the church in the New Testament caving in and following the culture instead of following the Lord.

          The only thing that saved the folks in the Bible was repentance and recommitment to following the Lord. We in our day need to do the same thing. We need to pray that God would raise up Godly and bold leaders in the church and the world to lead us in repentance and restoration. We need to stop listening to only those news outlets that confirm what we already believe and instead listen to a broad variety of perspectives. We all know the media has biases we should stop feeding the news media monster of both the left and the right and learn to truly think for ourselves.

          We should no longer follow leaders who sow fear and division among the people. We must each make a personal commitment to love our neighbor regardless of their political or religious background. We must learn again to treat those with whom we disagree with respect and trust. The church must take the lead in healing our fractured society. For far to long we have gone along to get along with our culture. We must stand up to the world in the name of Jesus and declare that we are one in the Lord. We must truly be the family of faith we are called to be by Jesus. Let us pray that it may be so.

          Holy God hear us as we pray. We come before you a broken and divided church. O Lord heal our wounds. Nurse your church back to health. May we become a light in the darkness of this world. Help us show the way that leads to the path of peace and reconciliation. Lord, raise up leaders that truly follow you and seek to heal the divisions among us.  We ask these things in the name of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen

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