We are facing unprecedented issues like never before. A worldwide health pandemic coupled with rampant racial injustice, systems as we know them are unraveling. As we are living in the midst of chaos, we must set our minds on the things that are above and not on this earth.

So much is happening in the world right now that it's almost unrecognizable, and certainly not like anything I've ever seen in my lifetime. COVID-19 shut the entire world down and has changed the way we live and operate, and the uprising affects of racism have come to the forefront as though we have stepped back several decades. I have cried, I have prayed and sometimes just sat in silence trying to make sense of it all. I know I'm not alone. It would be so easy to allow our emotions to get the best of us - discouragement, anger, fear and hopelessness, as our world only seems to be getting worse. According to Christian cliche', wasn't 2020 supposed to be "the year things come into focus"??
I believe God wants us to experience our emotions as we face issues. He created them after all. What we do with them, however, determines our personal outcome and our effectiveness to generate change. Will we choose to live in fear, or rise in faith? Will we remain angry and bitter, or choose forgiveness? Will we accept what is wrong as being right, or will we stand up and declare the truth? The bottom line is that what is going on in the world does not have to determine what is going on with us. That's not to say we ignore what's happening around us or turn a blind eye. We absolutely must pay attention, but while paying attention our focus must be on God and what His word has to say about it.
"...the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere." ~James 3:17
Colossians 3:2 (ESV) "Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth." Our mind (noun) is where our reasonings and perceptions take place. To mind (verb), is to pay attention to or obey. So as we are journeying through what seems to be the most difficult time in our nation's history, we must allow our reasoning and perception, our attention and obedience, to be set on the things that are above this earth. James 3:17 tells us that "the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere." This sounds like the opposite of what we are seeing in the earth today. This sounds like hope.
Maybe 2020 is the year things come into focus. The year we decide to stop living according to earthly dictations and instead turn our eyes to the Father, seek His face and intercede on behalf of the issues that need an answer and the people who need a Savior.
Scriptures
"The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you."
-Psalm 9:9-10
"If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."
-2 Chronicles 7:14
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God."
-2 Corinthians 1:3-4
"Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"
-Psalm 46:10
Prayer:
Father, our nation needs You. Forgive us of our sin and heal our land as we humble ourselves before You, seek Your face in prayer and turn from our wicked ways. May we be a light that shines bright in the darkness, pointing others to You, the only one that can bring hope and peace in the midst of chaos.
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