Post-election musings (non-political) by Neel Woods

2020 is a year that we will tell our grandkids about just like earlier generations would recall the Kennedy assassination or 9/11. Twenty years from now, how will you remember 2020? With the presidential outcome still in limbo and everyone experiencing emotional fatigue from COVID and the election, not to mention more tangible burdens like critical family illnesses, job losses, racial injustice, and even toilet paper shortages, I'm trying to think a little outside the box. 

John Piper preached a memorable sermon in Feb, '09 called What is the Recession For? that reflected on the financial meltdown of '08. In it, he cited five different ways that God was using this hardship to His purposes. One of those ways I can't forget is that God was using the crisis to expose sin, whether personal, national, societal, or otherwise.

It seems that in this election season more than ever before, we are apt to vilify those who are supporting the other candidate. Lying, social media trolling, poll cheating, egotistical bluster, finger-pointing, hate-mongering, disregard for the sanctity of human life,... the problem with all these things is not politics, it's SIN. The enemy has duped us into pointing fingers at each other and at the broken system but in reality, it's that original sin in the Garden that is just manifesting itself through our national politics. 

I've seen plenty of toxic FB posts that bemoan how those other guys can be so stupid, evil, clueless, etc., and my natural reaction is to say, "back atcha". But, I have to remember that sin is at the root of all our deceptions, hatred, and lack of compassion for our fellow humans who are victims of the same. 

The enemy's underlying game is to get us to take our eyes off the ball. And this is the ball...

  • God is holy and He can't/won't tolerate my messed-up-ness
  • I'm REALLY messed up
  • Oh crap! What do I do?
  • He sacrificed His Son so that He could not only tolerate me, but adopt me and love me forever


Location: Dripping Springs, TX, USA

Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 17, 2020 at 3:41 PM

    Amen.
    I’m learning not to be judgmental! It’s a difficult lesson for me to learn, but the “friends” I’ve lost due To my conservative thoughts have caused me to pause , aren’t they being judgmental ?
    Do I really want to emulate their actions or do I want to do what my faith has taught me.. I chose God , the teaching of scripture. FORGIVE, and pray for them. God Bless America 🇺🇸

    ReplyDelete
  2. Neel WoodsJuly 4, 2022 at 2:05 PM

    Spot on!

    ReplyDelete

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