The Hand of God

It seems to me that natural disasters can be a way of humbling us as Christians and as Americans, though not all Americans are Christians, of course. We're a proud nation and that is often assimilated by Christians. We're prone to accommodate to the culture rather than speaking prophetically to the culture. Prophets are stoned and fired from their jobs and who wants to be a martyr for Christ? After all, a man is worse than an infidel if he does not work or feed his family

There is a tension in the biblical texts between responsibility for one's own choices, albeit those choices might seem the godly ones, and persecution by the secular authorities in government and the workplace. That tension remains in today's situation. There is a tremendous temptation to sell out to the world and hope that God will take care of His own business. Yet, Scripture tells us that we are to be obedient to God's revealed will. The Holy Scriptures have many hard sayings--like sell everything and give to the poor. Some of this is just impractical from an American perspective. But the rich young ruler thought it was impractical, too.

Just how would that play out if I sold everything I have? Well, I don't have anything to sell! So how could I sacrifice everything and follow Jesus? I could give up my job and become homeless and travel the nation as a vagabond and beggar. Many priests did that in previous centuries, by the way. The mendicant orders made their living by begging food and clothing. It seems today that instead of begging the television evangelists would just sell a lie that God wants everyone to be wealthy, especially the television evangelists themselves. Personally, I think this makes a mockery of the Gospel.

How hard it is to trust God for daily sustenance. It is even harder when one sees what passes as Christianity bilking the poor and the average joe for billions of dollars a year just so they can live in luxury on earth. Don't they know that this life is temporary and that eternal things are what counts?

May God have mercy on us all!