Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Devotion 1.12.17

The good news is things aren't quite as insane as they appear, but the bad news things are insane. As someone who has followed the news via radio, tv and print for a lifetime, it appears as though it has increased at a rapid pace.  Perhaps the pace has picked up because of the intensity of the news coming at us because now I can add the internet, websites, and social media to the list of news gathering methods.

I watched a video of David Brinkley and Chet Huntley of NBC's "Huntley Brinkley Report" interviewing John F. Kennedy in the Oval Office (click on the link to see it yourself) shortly before his assassination.  They are asking him about issues of the day, and at the end, they sit and chat while the crew reviews the video.  Kennedy looks at Brinkley and jokes about Harry Truman taking his daily walks, then looks at Huntley and says (paraphrased), "I wish I had said [it this way about a subject] instead of [saying what I said.]"  Huntley looks at the crew and says, "Can we reshoot that and I will re-ask it?"  They begin again and Kennedy rephrases his answer.  Now, that was a period of time that no longer exists.

Today?  Brinkley would have tweeted out the response by Kennedy and one of the crew would have recorded the raw footage on his cellphone to upload for all to hear before the news came on.  It would have gone viral and Kennedy would have been barraged by questions before noon, much less the next day after the news.  And we can put that kind of phenomenon on all aspects of life, not just politics.  One momentary lapse of judgement and your indiscretion, momentary failure to think, or sin is out for the entire world to see.  When did the world become so insane?

According to Paul, it started a long time ago. Listen to his words in Romans 1:  "Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!  Amen." (1:22 - 25)  Our wisdom became greater than God's, and we began to worship ourselves and other idols, and we took on the lusts of our hearts, a list that can go from A - Z. 

Yet Paul shares the good news as well.  "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1) God sends us his Son to live, die, and rise again to save us from our own thoughts and actions.  We thank God for the saving grace He gives us through His Son Christ Jesus.

Hope Men's Ministry

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