LEARNING DAILY

1 Corinthians 10:12, Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

I have been wondering for some time about the attitude and condition of the world, specifically in the United States. There is seemingly an attitude that sin does not matter. Even those who say they have accepted Christ as their Savior have an attitude that sin does not matter since Jesus forgave sin when He was on the cross. Let me be perfectly clear this morning that sin will be judged; Christians are not free to live any way they want to. This is a great misunderstanding of the grace of God.

We are a people that believe that wealth, position, power are more important that character and who we are within (Remember, God looks at the heart!). Jesus told a wealthy young man who felt secure in his wealth that “his soul would be required of him that very night” (read Luke 12:16-21). The man was more interested in the comforts of life, building bigger barns to place his harvest in; he put more work into his possessions than a relationship with God. This man’s problem was not that he was wealthy or about what he stored away in his barns. It was about his greed that was never satisfied – he always wanted more and more. His hope was in his treasure. Jesus said his death would come that very night.

This country seems to have a belief that it is indestructible; it is a mistake to place our security in our military and believe we are secure from the evil that exists around the world. Just like the parable above the nation is focused on what are threats to it on the outside without any consideration about warnings and things happening around it each day. What does the world around us really think about this nation? Do they trust or fear this nation as they once did? Yet, there is this thought that we will not fall, that we cannot be defeated. I wonder if the real problem is the internal problems rather than other nations.

When I recently studied the book of Daniel, chapter 5 stood out about this very issue. Belshazzar, son of Nebuchadnezzar, is now king. I suppose that power and control may have a way of causing one to forget the lessons learned by one’s father. Belshazzar seemed to forget! Babylon was still powerful, rich, and secure, at least they thought so. Verse 2 describes their culture, “Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them.” Here is a culture of sexual immorality, drunkenness, blasphemy, prostitution, and a total disregard of God and His ways! Bringing the vessels from the temple to be used in their drunkenness was an act of arrogance and rebellion against God!

The people of Babylon followed the example of their leaders; they failed to remember the lessons God taught Nebuchadnezzar.  They thought they could not fail, that they were too big and powerful. Certainly, no enemy was strong enough to defeat them, they thought. As you read in the paragraph above, they were an immoral and corrupt people. Their arrogance and rebellion against God were the final act of their way of life.

Does this sound familiar in any way to you?  Do you think the people of this nation ought to be thinking about this carefully? I know, there is no way they will.  Would you agree that the people of this country have forgotten the lessons we should have learned from those who have gone before us?

If it is okay, I want to do something I normally do not do. I would like to tell the rest of the story tomorrow.  (Saturday).