How We Live Has Consequences

09/09/24 – 09/21/24

Light in a Dark Culture

By Michael Youssef, Ph D.  09/15/24

There are always consequences when God’s people cease to honor Him and obey His Word. When the Israelites turned their backs on God, He removed His hand of protection from them. They became victims of the terrorists of their day, the Babylonians. Read Habakkuk’s description of the Babylonians—”ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth . . . a feared and dreaded people; . . . a law to themselves” (Habakkuk 1:6-7)—isn’t that an apt description of terror groups like ISIS and Hamas?

If we, as God’s people, distort God’s Truth in order to become friends with the world, don’t we risk the same consequences? Exile is the destiny of every society or community that once knew God, then turned its back on Him. That exile might take any number of forms, but it almost always includes terror from without and social decay within. Examples of that social decay include:

• Eroding respect for Truth and wisdom. Our universities are no longer institutions of higher learning, but brainwashing factories. Students are not trained to be wise and learned but are simply indoctrinated into the party line.
• Increasing corruption in government. Our leaders are no longer answerable to We the People, but to a wealthy clique of oligarchs.
• The coarsening of the culture. Vulgarity, obscenity, violence, and racial hatred are rampant, not merely in the darkest corners of the internet but throughout society.

These problems can be solved—and you and I are the solution. If we would return to the Truth of God’s Word, if we would become the light of the world as the Lord called us to be (see Matthew 5:14-16), then the light of God’s Truth, shining through us, would push back the darkness.

Prayer: Lord, have mercy on us and help us to lead our nation out of darkness. Work in my life, Father, to grow my faith and lead people to Your Truth. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

“[L]et your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).